Junior surfing raises developmental fears

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Junior surfing raises developmental fears

Almost half of preschool children in Korea are comfortable with using computers on the Internet; the junior surfers spend an average of about five hours a week online, according to a government survey that was released yesterday. The Information and Communication Ministry and the Korea Network Information Center polled about 7,000 households in December; 48 percent of the respondents said their toddlers were online. The figure was over 60 percent among five-year-olds, 45 percent among four-year-olds and 34 percent among three-year-olds. Those who used the Internet started their online activities soon after their third birthday, the survey said, and about 10 percent of the young Internet users spent 10 hours a week or more on the Web. More than nine out of 10 of the children using the Net played online games and listened to music; about 40 percent visited educational sites, the survey said. Those findings did not please some educators and physicians, who warned that overexposure to the Internet at an early age could lead to some physical or mental development problems later on. Lee Ho-boon, a Seoul pediatrician, said flatly, “The Internet is harmful to children who are three to five years old, for whom verbal, perceptional and emotional development are more important. The Web serves only as a passive provider of information.” Seo Young-sook, who studies and teaches child welfare topics at Sookmyung Women’s University, agreed. “When children are accustomed to the Internet, they tend to avoid reading books,” she warned. “Children who spend a lot of time on the Web are very likely to lose their social skills,” she continued, recommending that children of kindergarten age limit their Internet activity to school activities with a group of their classmates. by Seo Ji-eun, Lee Hee-sung
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