by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
The South Korean government said Monday that it will take measures to combat the growing problem of teen smartphone addiction, Yonhap News Agency reports.
Last year, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning conducted a survey on 15,000 South Koreans aged between 10 to 59 and found that 29.2 percent of adolescents were heavily dependent on smartphones, a 17.8 increase from figures recorded in 2011.
Nearly 20 percent of survey respondents who were defined as addiction-prone smartphone users were in their 20s, while 11.3 percent were in their 30s. Middle school students and children from double-income families were found to be most inclined to become addicted to smartphones compared to any other group, according to the survey’s findings.
More than half of teen participants said that smartphone distract them from studying. Another 49.6 percent responded that they become restless when not using their phones.
The survey also revealed that respondents would spend about 4 hours on their smartphones everyday, whereas the addiction-prone group would spend a little over 5 hours.
To combat teen smartphone addiction, the South Korean government vowed to provide education programs and counseling for high-risk students. It also plans to provide teens from low-income bracket household with an incentive of up to 500,000 won (US $456) to receive hospital treatments for more serious cases of addictions.
South Korea has the highest smartphone penetration rate in the world, according to the market research firm eMarket. About 70 percent of the country’s population of 50 million people have a smartphone.
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Featured image via Dongguk University
