More children are
addicted to the Internet than adults, and teenagers are the most likely age
group to suffer Internet addiction, a government study found Monday.
Children aged 5-9 are more addicted to the Internet, at 7.9 per cent,
than adults aged 20-49 who had an addiction rate of 6.8 per cent, according to
the study by the Public Administration Ministry and the National Information
Society Agency.
The addiction rate for children is higher than the average rate of 7.7
per cent for all age groups.
The research was conducted on 10,000 citizens ? 663 children, 2,130
teenagers and 7,207 adults ? from Oct. 24 to Dec. 10 last year in the form of
one-on-one interviews.
Those aged 10-19 had the highest addiction rate, 10.4 per cent. Of
them, high school students had the highest incidence at 12.4 per cent.
"Children and teenagers can't control their emotions as their
frontal lobe has yet to fully develop. So they are more likely to be addicted
to the Internet than adults," said Woo Jee-hyang, a counselor at Seoul
Culture High School.
The report added that underprivileged students were more likely to be
addicted to the Internet, as the data showed that teenagers from low-income
families with under 2 million won (S$2,238) income per month showed a higher
addiction rate at 13 per cent; those from multicultural families at 14.2 per
cent; and those from a single parent family at 10.5 per cent, which all
exceeded the average rate of 10.4 per cent for teenagers.
Among adults, those in their 20s were twice likely to have Internet
addiction at 9.2 per cent than 4.7 per cent in their 40s. Most of them with an
addiction problem were in college or unemployed.
More men were addicted to the Internet at 9.1 per cent than women at
6.1 per cent.
Internet addicts identified by the study spent an average 2.7 hours a
day playing online games and surfing the net.
The average hours spent using the Internet is 1.9 hours for
non-addicts. The most common reported uses were reading news articles (43 per cent)
and surfing the net (36.2 per cent).
Smartphone addiction was also reported.
Teenagers recorded the highest smartphone addiction rate at 11.4 per
cent, followed by adults in 20s at 10.4 per cent.
The average time spent using smartphones was 52.4 minutes per day, and
about 10 per cent of smartphone users thought they were overusing the gadget.
The government is working on measures to cure Internet addiction as the
study concluded that more people were at greater risk of addiction, although it
found that the average addiction rate went down by 0.3 per cent from last year.
It plans to conduct preventive education tailored to different age
groups, expand counseling and therapy centers and professional personnel.
Lee Woo-young
The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
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