The article "S Korea child 'starves as parents raise virtual baby" in BBC News has some connection with Ann's blog "Can parent abandon their child?"
The article tells that a couple Korean parents left their 3-month old daughter starve to death at home to an internet cafe. They are addicted to internet. They fed their child once a day every 12 hours. They said that they want to escape from reality after they lost their job. The sad irony is that they went to an internet cafe to play the online game "to nurture a virtual daughter" whom the players need to help recover her lost memory and emotions.
I have no idea how could they think that they should raise a virtual girl while they already have a daughter waiting for them at home, the one whom they can really nurture to help her develop her own personality, who can really talk with them and take care of them when they get old. Anyway, they might think that it is more fun to raise a virtual girl. However, I really wish that the foster home had discovered this baby before this incident occurred.
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The article tells that a couple Korean parents left their 3-month old daughter starve to death at home to an internet cafe. They are addicted to internet. They fed their child once a day every 12 hours. They said that they want to escape from reality after they lost their job. The sad irony is that they went to an internet cafe to play the online game "to nurture a virtual daughter" whom the players need to help recover her lost memory and emotions.
I have no idea how could they think that they should raise a virtual girl while they already have a daughter waiting for them at home, the one whom they can really nurture to help her develop her own personality, who can really talk with them and take care of them when they get old. Anyway, they might think that it is more fun to raise a virtual girl. However, I really wish that the foster home had discovered this baby before this incident occurred.
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References
S Korea child 'starves as parents raise virtual baby. (2010, March 5). Retrieved March 7, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8551122.stm
This is one of the articles that I had thought of blogging when I read it. It really is shocking.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, such cases are very rare, which is why they grab our attention, and the media's attention, when they do occur. I think it's important to remember that these cases are rare - I've never heard of such an awful example of internet addiction before.
Liu's speculation as to what might have been going on in their minds reflected some of my own ideas. I had also thought that they might have found a virtual baby less demanding than a real human baby. And virtual babies don't need nappy changes, bathing, and all those other real activities that make up a real human life. I remember that it was sometimes messy cleaning up after my youngest sisters, who are 10 and 16 years younger than me, and whom I therefore had to help for. But those experiences are something without which I would be diminished.