A survey of the lifestyles, leisure activities and consuming power of Taiwanese children by the Cartoon Network (Taiwan) shows that children are increasingly Internet-savvy.
The New Generation 2011 study, which focused on children between the ages of seven and 14, showed that children in Taiwan have easy access to the Internet, with 94 percent of respondents having an Internet connection at home. As many as 75 percent had used the Internet at least once in the past week and 22 percent used the Internet every day, said the survey, which was released yesterday.
As for children’s activities online, about two-thirds of respondents said they had played single-player online games in the past week, while about half had played multi-player online games.
Meanwhile, 16 percent said they had met strangers in person after first becoming acquainted online.
Children and parents differed in their attitude toward getting to know strangers on the Internet, with 43 percent of parents saying that it worried them, while only 10 percent of the children were concerned.
Child Welfare League Foundation executive director Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the survey results underscored the importance of reminding parents to pay close attention to who their children interact with on the Internet and in real life.
Parents should be mindful of how much time children spend on the Internet and set up certain rules to prevent addiction, she said.
In addition, the increasing use of mobile phones by children was another development of note, Wang said, adding that recent studies had shown that radiation emitted from mobile phones may harm peoples’ brains and health.
Parents should therefore pay more attention to mobile phone use by their children, she said.
The study showed that nearly 22 percent of children had their own mobile phone.
Although Internet use has become a popular recreational activity among children, watching TV remained the most popular way to use their spare time, with 100 percent of children surveyed saying they had watched TV in the past week.
The study also showed that children were most concerned about their grades, saw being “friendly” as an important personality trait and considered meeting friends the best thing about going to school.
This was the fourth biannual survey conducted by the Cartoon Network in Taiwan. The survey was carried out between March 22 and April 20 in Taipei, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung, and 1,003 children and 1,003 parents or legal guardians were polled.
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