Now that summer vacation has arrived, are children simply staying at home glued to the Internet? Last week the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) and Microsoft Taiwan Corp released a report based on a survey of child and teenage Internet safety in Taiwan. The report shows that 38 percent of children use the Internet every day, more than 75 percent during weekends, and 18 percent use it more than six hours a day during weekends. Psychiatrists point out that nearly 10 percent of schoolchildren in Taiwan are currently addicted to the Internet.
The CWLF conducted the survey using 1,474 questionnaires from fifth and sixth graders living in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan. According to indicators of Internet addiction disorder (IAD), nearly 10 percent of schoolchildren in Taiwan are currently addicted to the Internet, and as much as 1.1 percent of children are seriously affected by the addiction in their daily lives to the point of necessitating counseling and therapy.
“If I don’t use the Internet, or don’t ‘check in’ to Facebook, I feel like I’m wandering aimlessly, no longer existing in this world. It’s as if I’m not standing on solid ground.” A psychiatrist named Deng Hui-wen provided this statement from a 12-year-old sixth grader, exemplifying a case of Internet addiction in which the child constantly wanted to “check in” to Facebook’s Places application using her smartphone. “She would feel extremely uncomfortable if she couldn’t check in to Places,” Deng added.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者簡榮豐
According to Deng’s analysis, Internet overuse significantly diminishes the amount of time a person would usually spend on interpersonal relationships in real life, relationships which are especially important for fifth and sixth graders, who are at a stage when they are still developing their own identities in society and learning to get along with each other. Deng said that in more serious cases the addiction could potentially affect interpersonal relationships to such an extent that if the addict is not in the virtual world of the Internet they would be unable to speak to others properly. This is because they would lack the longer span of time the Internet affords them to think about responses, and the chance to delete and rewrite comments they post on the Internet.
Deng said that nearly 40 percent of children’s parents were entirely unaware of their child’s MSN, e-mail or Facebook account information, indicating that the gap between parents and their children on the Internet is quite significant. Deng reminds parents that the most important thing is for parents to never leave parental reminders, such as remembering to take vitamins, or how they will help the child lose weight, because by doing so children will be mocked by their peers, and eventually delete their parents from their friends list.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
暑假到了,家裡孩子總黏著網路嗎?兒童福利聯盟與台灣微軟上週發表「兒少網路安全調查報告」,發現有三成八的學童天天上網、週末必上網者更超過七成五,甚至有一成八學童週末每天上網超過六小時。精神科醫師提醒,近一成的學童可能已網路成癮。
兒福聯盟針對北中南東四區、國小五六年級學童調查,有效回收一千四百七十四份問卷。比對「網路成癮症指標」,發現國內有百分之九點九的學童可能已網路成癮,甚至有百分之一點一的孩子因此影響生活,需要尋求諮商輔導。
「不上網不打卡,我就覺得自己漂浮著,好像不在地球上、踩不到地。」精神科醫師鄧惠文舉例,曾有名十二歲的小六學童網路成癮、隨時都想用智慧型手機在Facebook「打卡」,「若不這麼做,就覺得好像不存在」。
鄧惠文分析,國小五六年級學童處於發展自我與學習人際相處的時期,因此過度上網恐減少真實生活的相處,「嚴重者可能影響人際交往。若不在網路世界,就無法與人正常說話;因為這樣他就沒有辦法慢慢思考,或是慢慢打字後,還有刪除再重來的機會。」
鄧惠文說,完全不知道孩子MSN、E-mail、Facebook等帳號的家長更高達近四成,顯示親子網路距離不小。更重要的是,父母千萬不要在孩子公開的空間留下「父母式的叮嚀」,例如「今天要記得吃維他命喔」、「媽媽來幫你減肥」等留言,可能會讓孩子被同儕取笑,因而乾脆從好友名單中刪除爸媽。
(自由時報記者陳怡靜)
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