Motherlode, new York times

A Child, a Gadget, a Guest and a Question of Etiquette

BY KJ DELL’ANTONIA
 JUNE 8, 2012 1:07 PM

“Yesterday,” R. wrote, “my 6-year-old child and the rest of our family visited another
family with a child (also 6) who spent the whole time on an iPod touch.”

R.’s child alternated between frustration — why wouldn’t her friend play with her? —
and fascination as her friend sat, absorbed in the gadget, “more interested in doing
games and FaceTime with another friend than in playing with the friend that was
actually there in the flesh.” I’ve seen this, haven’t you? A child arrives with an iTouch,
Nintendo or other electronic toy, or produces one during a visit, and all hope of any
other form of play seems to be lost.

My children certainly aren’t immune — there have been times when they’ve brought out
a gadget while a friend was over — and my solution is always either time limits (and, of
course, sharing) or an outright ban. It’s particularly frustrating for my oldest daughter,
who has limited interest in any form of video game, when her friends are lured away by
a sibling with “Mario Kart.”

Should parents allow children to bring their gadgets along to play with a friend, or to
bring them out when they have someone over? Are two friends hanging over the same
gadget “playing together” (assuming both are happy with the division of labor involved)?
What should be the rule on gadgetry and company?

Society global times china

"Digital kids" spark new learning concerns

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-9-9 22:16:18
2

Yang Hao has been letting his daughter to play iPad games since she was two. Two years later, he
is beginning to wonder whether the digital exposure is a good thing.

"The electronic helper is great. She often concentrates on the touch screen for a long time, watching
animated shows or learning poetry, and we can enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet," said the
36-year-old who lives in Shanghai.
However, the father has become increasingly worried as the four-year-old girl seems to have lost
interest in paper books as a result of her obsession with the glowing device.

"I fear it might have consequences for her intellectual development," he said.

Yang's concern has been reinforced by some education experts who speak against the
popularization of electronic gadgets among children and warn of their negative influence on
children's capacity to learn the Chinese language.

A report released at the China Children's Cultural Industry Forum held in Beijing in late July showed
that, among more than 2,700 children aged 4 to 16 surveyed in 10 Chinese cities, nearly 58 percent
have mobile phones and 18 percent use tablet computers.

The report said over 60 percent of kids surveyed chat online via QQ, China's most popular instant
messaging service, and 26 percent use Weibo, an influential Twitter-like microblog, mainly on mobile
devices.

These "digital kids" are most commonly seen in affluent families in megacities such as Shanghai.

When the new semester started, Yang was surprised to know that two-thirds of kids in his daughter's
class at an international kindergarten have cell phones and tablet computers.

The amount of time that Chinese children spend reading printed words has significantly dropped in
the last few years, largely due to growing reliance on digital devices, said Wang Huamin, secretary-
general of the China National Society of Early Childhood Education.

"Parents should bear in mind that reading books on paper remains the most important approach for
Chinese preschoolers to learn their mother tongue," said Wang, adding that previous research
shows reading in print should account for 60 to 70 percent of children's daily leisure time.

Her view is echoed by linguist Hao Mingjian, who believes electronic gadgets are obstacles for
children in mastering the Chinese language.

"Browsing on screen can't lead them to a good grasp of the pronunciation, forms and meanings of
Chinese characters, let alone the profound culture behind them," Hao said.

"Reading microblog posts that contain no more than 140 characters each will surely not help to
understand cause-and-effect relationships in words and learn pivotal reading skills," said Sun
Hongyan, a researcher with the China Juvenile Research Center.

"When necessary, I need to help my daughter get rid of her addiction to the dazzling iPad apps with
professional assistance," said Yang, hoping the girl will pick up books before she enters primary
school.

Last month, China's press and publication watchdog announced that legislation is likely to be
adopted to encourage citizens to read, measures that are partly aimed at improving the literacy skills
of minors.
Despite warnings from researchers that children's access to electronic gadgets may cause various
problems, other scholars believe the tools are beneficial for children's brain development. 

National the korea times

96 percent of Korean teens own
smartphones
Posted : 2019-10-13 11:48
Updated : 2019-10-14 13:06
By Kim Rahn

More than 95 percent of secondary school students have smartphones, and they
use the devices for more than two hours a day, a report showed, Sunday.

According to the report by the state-run Korea Information Society Development

Institute, 95.9 percent of middle school students and 95.2 percent of high school
students owned smartphones as of 2018.

Figures were up from 2015's 86.6 percent for middle schoolers and 90.2 percent
for high schoolers.

They were also higher than the average smartphone penetration rate of all age
groups, 87.2 percent.

For elementary schoolchildren, the smartphone penetration rate was 37.8

percent for first to third graders, and 81.2 percent for fourth to sixth graders ―
also up from 2015's 25.5 percent and 59.3 percent, respectively.

By the time of use, middle schoolers spent the largest time with the gadgets, 144
minutes per day, followed by high schoolers' 135 minutes. They spent more time
on their phones than the average of all age groups, 113 minutes.

The report found the time of children's smartphone use more than doubles when
they get to fourth to sixth grades at elementary school: First to third graders used
smartphones for 45 minutes a day, while fourth to sixth graders spent 105
minutes on their phones.

"Fourth to sixth grade is the time when children's dependence on smartphone

increases, so guidelines from both parents and school on proper use of the device
are required," the report said.
Among those who own smartphones, almost all high school students, or 98.9
percent, said they use mobile messenger apps such as KakaoTalk. The ratio was
also high among middle schoolers, 94.5 percent, while that for fourth to sixth
grade elementary schoolers was 88.8 percent, and first to third graders, 76.8
percent.

For the most frequently used apps, elementary schoolchildren picked games,
messenger apps and video platforms, while middle school students enjoyed
games, messenger apps and webtoons, and high schoolers, messenger apps,
games and social media.

Science and health the japan times

Study to ask: Do mobile phones hurt teen brains?

REUTERS MAY 20, 2014
LONDON – British researchers are launching the largest study yet to investigate
whether using mobile phones and other wireless gadgets might affect children’s brain
development.
The Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones project will focus on cognitive
functions such as memory and attention, which continue to develop into adolescence —
just the age when teenagers start to own and use personal phones.

While there is no convincing evidence that radio waves from mobile phones affect
health, to date most scientific research has focused on adults and the potential risk of
brain cancers.

Because of that, scientists are uncertain as to whether children’s developing brains may
be more vulnerable than adults’ — partly because their nervous systems are still
developing, and partly because they are likely to have a higher cumulative exposure over
their lifetimes.

“Scientific evidence available to date is reassuring and shows no association between

exposure to radio frequency waves from mobile phone use and brain cancer in adults in
the short term — i.e., less than 10 years of use,” said Paul Elliott, director of the Centre
for Environment and Health at Imperial College London, who will co-lead the research.

“But the evidence available regarding long-term heavy use and children’s use is limited
and less clear.”

Mobile phone use is ubiquitous, with the World Health Organization estimating 4.6
billion subscriptions globally. In Britain, about 70 percent of 11- to 12-year-olds now
own a mobile phone, and that figure rises to 90 percent by age 14.
Elliott and the study’s principal investigator, Mireille Toledano, aim to recruit around
2,500 11- to 12-year-old schoolchildren and follow their cognitive development over two
years while collecting data on how often, for what, and for how long they use mobile
phones or smartphones and other wireless devices.

Parents and pupils who agree to take part in the study will answer questions about the
children’s use of mobile devices and wireless technologies, well-being and lifestyle.
Pupils will also undertake classroom-based computerized tests of the cognitive abilities
behind functions like memory and attention.

“Cognition is essentially how we think, how we make decisions, and how we process and
recall information,” said Toledano, who is also at Imperial College’s Centre for
Environment and Health.

“It is linked to intelligence and educational achievement and forms the building blocks
of the innovative and creative potential of every individual and therefore society as a
whole.”

The World Health Organization says a large number of studies have been performed
over the past two decades to assess whether mobile phones pose a potential health risk,
and, to date, no adverse health effects have been established.

Still, the electromagnetic fields produced by mobile phones are classified by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” and
the global health agency has said more research into the issue is vital.