<Anchor> In the
past year, when remote classes continued due to Corona 19, a survey result showed that the use of smartphones by students also increased significantly. In particular, it was found that 4 out of 10 teenagers are in a difficult state to control their smartphone use.
Reporter Jeong Da-eun reported.
<Reporter>
Internet Addiction Prevention Consultation Center operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and education on smartphone addiction prevention for teenagers is in full swing.
Let's ask about the use of a smartphone,
[I don't know that time goes by when I use a smartphone. (
Raise your hand
)]
Most of them raise their hands.
Last year, 4 out of 10 teenagers were found to be at risk of over-dependence on smartphones.
Smartphone over-dependence refers to a condition in which you have difficulty controlling the use of your smartphone by yourself.
Middle school students were the most vulnerable with 39.6%, followed by high school and elementary school students, which increased by more than 5 percentage points from 2019, before the coronavirus outbreak.
Since Corona 19, the use of smartphones has increased as remote classes have increased and outings have decreased.
[Junho Jung/High school student: I have to do other work after watching (Class) on time, but I watched a YouTube video and a related video popped up, so I could watch another video... .]
Experts say that it is important to increase conversations with family and find activities to replace smartphones in order to get out of dependence on smartphones.
[Park Se-ra/Director of Internet Addiction Prevention and Counseling Center: The best thing is to look for a lot of alternative activities. To escape the boredom at home... I need to be active.]
In addition, nearly half of the youth answered that their school life was negatively affected by Corona 19, and it was found that academic stress increased.
(Video coverage: Kim Seong-il, video editing: Yumira)