Arguing about Internet addiction in Chinese

[Hugh]

I'm trying to write a post about "Internet addiction" and how it's a load of crap. Draft is below, I know there's a lot of it, but if anyone could have a look at one or two sentences and tell me how to express them correctly I'd be really grateful. Currently it's all very English-style Chinese, which isn't a lot of good. I've highlighted in red the sentences I think are particularly horrible

“瘾症”相比于“过量”

“Addiction” vs “excess”

上瘾一个东西和过于那个东西是两回事。

There’s a difference between being addicted to something and just doing it excessively.

过于上网不是跟医学或精神病有关的事情。

Excessive use of the Internet is not a medical or psychiatric issue.

把它相较于其他有意思的活动：去电影院，看书，散步，跟朋友聊天等等。

Compare it to other enjoyable activities: going to the cinema, reading books, going for walks, chatting to friends etc.

做这些事做得太多的人的例子多的是，可是没有说是“瘾症”。

There are plenty of examples of people who do these things “excessively”, but no-one says those are “addictions”.

理念没有道理

The concept doesn’t make sense

“网络成瘾症”这个理念将意味着“网络”是一种可以下定义的活动。

The concept of “Internet addiction” implies that “the Internet” is some sort of definable activity.

实际上，网络的作用有着无数的多种多样的。

In fact, there are countless, varied uses for the Internet.

网络是一个相通的渠道，而不是物质或具体的活动。

It’s a communication medium, not a substance or specific activity.

这个好像说一个人上瘾了“交通”，“艺术”或“政治”。

It’s like saying that someone is addicted to “transport”, “art” or “politics”.

单独的例子

Lone examples

我听过在韩国的父母因为忙于玩游戏而让他们的孩子死了的那个例子。

I’ve heard the example of the parents in Korea who let their child die because they were too busy playing video games.

我不否认这件事发生了，可是一个例子算不上证据。

I’m not denying that that happened, but one example doesn’t count as evidence.

判断的标准需一致并可量化。

You need consistent and quantifiable criteria.

那两个人不是因为过于上网而忽视他们的孩子。

Those people did not neglect their child because they used the Internet too much.

他们是因为患有一种使他门忽视孩子的基础精神病而过于上网。

They used the Internet too much because they had some underlying problem that also caused them to neglect their child.

这显然是将属并列关系的两件事误解成为因果关系了。

This is an example of confusing two things that have a common cause with one of them causing the other.

“诊断”的人经常有其他问题

People “diagnosed” often have other problems

诊断患有“网络成瘾症”的人差不多总是也有其他的困难。

People “diagnosed” with “Internet addiction” are nearly always diagnosed with other difficulties as well.

患有一种精神病使人过于上网，并不是反之亦然。

Having some sort of mental disorder causes people to use the Internet excessively, not the other way round.

过于上网是其他问题的症状，而不是原因。

Excessive Internet use is a symptom of other problems, not a cause of them.

需要处理的是这些其他问题，而不是过于上网。

These other problems need to be dealt with, not the excessive Internet use.

过于上网是不好，就不是关键。

Excessive Internet use is bad, it’s just not the core problem

这个不是说过于上网不是问题。

This is not to say that excessive Internet use isn’t a problem.

就是说那个不是根本的原因，也不是需要另外处理、跟医学或社会有关的问题。

It’s saying that it’s not the root cause, and it’s not a medical or social issue that needs to be addressed in itself.

并无足够证据表明长时间上网本身是个问题。

There’s no good evidence that spending a lot of time online is problematic in itself.

[skylee]

Being addicted to something is 上癮. 過癮 means something else.

[xiaocai]

You need consistent and quantifiable criteria.

判断的标准需一致并可量化。

This is an example of confusing two things that have a common cause with one of them causing the other.

这显然是将属并列关系的两件事误解成为因果关系了。

Having some sort of mental disorder causes people to use the Internet excessively, not the other way round.

过度上网是精神异常的一种表现，而并非其原因。

There’s no good evidence that spending a lot of time online is problematic in itself.

并无足够证据表明长时间上网本身是个问题。

I only attempted the red part based on my limited experience. I know it is far from word to word translation and they are by no mean exactly the same as the original, but I just found it is quite hard to keep the balance between keeping to the original text and making them sound more natural.

[Hugh]

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate it

[kenny2006]

“沉溺”（成瘾）相比于“过分”（过于，过度）

“Addiction” vs “excess”

沉溺于某件事和过于某件事是两回事。

There’s a difference between being addicted to something and just doing it excessively.

上网过度跟医学或精神病并无直接关系。

Excessive use of the Internet is not a medical or psychiatric issue.

相比其他有意义的活动：去电影院，看书，散步，跟朋友聊天等等。

Compare it to other enjoyable activities: going to the cinema, reading books, going for walks, chatting to friends etc.

人们可能做得很多次，这样的例子比比皆是，没有人会说成是“成瘾”。

There are plenty of examples of people who do these things “excessively”, but no-one says those are “addictions”.

诊断患有“网络成瘾症”的人差不多同时也被其他的问题困扰。

People “diagnosed” with “Internet addiction” are nearly always diagnosed with other difficulties as well.

精神病症会导致患者沉溺于网络，但并不是网络导致精神病症。

Having some sort of mental disorder causes people to use the Internet excessively, not the other way round.

沉溺上网是其他问题的症状表现，而不是起因。

Excessive Internet use is a symptom of other problems, not a cause of them.

需要解决的是这些问题（or 要对症下药），而不是依赖于上网。

These other problems need to be dealt with, not the excessive Internet use.

过于上网不好，但不是关键。

Excessive Internet use is bad, it’s just not the core problem

并不是说过于上网没有问题。

This is not to say that excessive Internet use isn’t a problem.

但它不是问题的本身，也不需要视为医学或社会有关的问题来处理。

It’s saying that it’s not the root cause, and it’s not a medical or social issue that needs to be addressed in itself.

因为并无足够证据表明长时间上网本身是个问题。

There’s no good evidence that spending a lot of time online is problematic in itself.