Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 21. Question: Childhood "locked in the screen of mobile phones" - A survey on the phenomenon of "mobile phone addiction" among left-behind children in some rural areas
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter
8-year-old Dabao and 5-year-old Erbao are finally starting school, and grandparents breathed a sigh of relief.
The winter vacation life of the Jindongnan brothers has made grandparents distressed and helpless.
During the winter vacation, the older brother "occupied" grandma's mobile phone and kept refreshing short videos; the younger brother "occupied" grandfather's phone and played three or four small games in turn.
"I can't even shout when I eat, and I can't control it. If I want to leave my phone, I will make trouble." Last fall, Dabao put on "small glasses", and the power of both lenses exceeded 300 degrees.
The situation of the little brothers is the epitome of the phenomenon of "mobile phone addiction" among left-behind children in some rural areas.
"Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters recently conducted investigations in some rural areas such as Hunan, Shanxi, and Henan, and found that with the popularization of smartphones and other electronic products, some rural left-behind children are addicted to mobile games, short videos, etc., which may affect the physical and mental health of these children. bring negative effects.
"Mobile phone addiction" is becoming more and more common
Zeng Jie, the principal of Yali Dingjiang School in Changsha City, Hunan Province, volunteered in the mountainous area the year before.
In the process of teaching volunteering, she found that with the accelerated popularization of smartphones, the phenomenon of "mobile phone addiction" among left-behind children in rural areas is becoming more and more common.
Most of the left-behind children in rural areas live with their grandparents. Parents who work outside often buy smartphones for their children in order to facilitate contact and help their children complete some learning tasks.
Some elderly people are not very good at operating smartphones, and they are too spoiled for their grandchildren and their requirements are not strict. In the end, mobile phones have become an entertainment tool for children to play games and watch videos.
When the reporter interviewed a pair of left-behind sisters in the southern Hebei area, the sister told the reporter that there was a lot of pressure to study, and she liked to swipe light and funny short videos on Kuaishou, while her sister liked to play mobile games.
"Most of the classmates in the class have their own WeChat IDs. Usually, everyone also chats about games. If they don't play, they can't communicate with their classmates." My sister said.
Lei Wanghong, a teacher from the School of Public Administration of Central South University, has done relevant research in many rural areas in the south.
She found that many junior high school students have Douyin and Kuaishou accounts, just like the "post-80s" people had a QQ account.
"They like to watch funny videos and upload their own imitations."
Chang Juan, a village official for college students in Hunan, conducted research in several villages and found that some rural children are becoming more and more obsessed with short video software.
After school, the children are walking in the alleys of the village, and there are various funny soundtracks coming out of the house. You don’t need to go in and watch to know that they are watching short videos.
A public official in Jinbei told reporters that his 8-year-old niece spends more than 3 hours a day just watching short videos during the winter vacation.
"A child's mouth is full of all kinds of 'Tik Tok stalks' and 'Kaishou stalks' that are popular on the Internet."
"Mobile phones are getting cheaper, more apps, and more addictive, making them the most important playmates for left-behind children," said a primary school principal in Xinyang City, Henan Province.
worrying addiction
The parents of Jin Bo, a junior high school student in Luyi County, Henan Province, work in Zhejiang.
In order to facilitate contact, his parents bought him a mobile phone.
Jin Bo's grandfather told reporters: "I didn't expect that after buying a mobile phone, he would play games every day, and no one in the family could control it." After Jin Bo was addicted to games, his academic performance plummeted.
Although the family is not rich, Jin Bo's parents will give him a fixed monthly living allowance of 1,000 yuan.
His mother said: "Because I couldn't accompany the child, I gave a little more money. I didn't expect him to spend a lot of money playing games. We were out of town, and we were anxious and couldn't control him."
A township cadre in Hunan Province told reporters that on weekends, a group of primary and secondary school students would often gather in the corner of the township government to swipe online videos and play games.
This group of children gathers for a long time, and it is easy to breed bad habits such as absenteeism, smoking and drinking.
Wang Yuchuan, a teacher at Hotel Primary School in Deting Town, Song County, Henan Province, summed up the "Monday phenomenon": some boarders go home on weekends and indulge in mobile entertainment; on the first day after returning to school, they will regularly appear listless and inattentive. concentration, etc.
Gu Yan, a researcher at the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that "mobile phone addiction" has a negative impact on left-behind children's physical and mental health, study and life, and family relationships, and some content involving violence and pornography on the Internet will also subtly affect young children. , there are potential social risks.
"Through algorithm recommendation technology, the content pushed by the platform is becoming more and more accurate and targeted; for minors with weak self-control, long-term immersion in it will make their information vision narrower and narrower." Chang Juan said.
Some parents reported that although some online game, short video and live broadcast platforms have launched anti-addiction systems for teenagers, some of them have limited use.
For example, an application software has a time limit of 40 minutes, but if you download multiple application software, you can use it in turn, and the total time spent online is still uncontrollable; many children use their grandparents’ mobile phones, and some programs are set to adult mode by default; some application software After uninstalling and reinstalling, you can restore the previous state, and the "teenage mode" is useless.
Make efforts to create a good environment
Left-behind children are addicted to mobile phones, which has become a common problem faced by some villages, and urgently needs the attention of parents, schools and the whole society.
"The children came back from school early, and they were busy putting paper kites in the east wind." "The shepherd boy went back to the ox, and the piccolo was silent." Rural children are more in touch with nature, and their childhoods are in some ways more colorful than urban children.
Lei Wanghong said that in the past 20 years, the rural environment has undergone great changes, and the entertainment time and space of rural children have been greatly compressed.
There are fewer and fewer children's playmates left in the countryside. Under the requirement of "safety first", students often stay at home after school.
Rural schools generally lack professional sports, music, and art teachers, and seldom organize related cultural and sports activities.
Some left-behind children are emotionally lonely, and smartphones have become their spiritual sustenance.
Industry insiders believe that Internet companies must strictly implement legal regulations and policy requirements to prevent minors from becoming addicted to mobile phones.
In June last year, the newly revised Minor Protection Law was officially implemented, which clearly stipulates that online product and service providers shall not provide minors with products and services that induce their addiction.
The State Press and Publication Administration has also issued a notice to resolutely prevent minors from indulging in online games, strictly limit the time for providing online game services to minors, and all online game companies can only operate on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory One hour service is provided to minors from 20:00 to 21:00 every day on holidays.
Gu Yan suggested that families, schools and Internet companies should be actively guided to fulfill their respective responsibilities, so as to create a good environment for the healthy growth of minors, so that more children can be free from the harm of Internet addiction.
In response to the lack of entertainment activities for left-behind children in rural areas, Lei Wanghong suggested that rural schools should strengthen cultural and sports education and provide students with basic entertainment venues; organize more reading clubs, interest groups, fitness clubs, etc., to guide students to carry out healthy game activities, increase Recreation time for students at school.
The village collective can organize some cultural and sports competitions by building reading rooms, basketball courts, table tennis tables and other places for youth activities, and attract children's attention through colorful activities to reduce the loneliness of left-behind children.
(In order to protect minors, some interviewees in the article are pseudonyms) (Reporters Zhou Nan, Sun Liangquan, Cui Junjie, Zhai Zhuo)