Nearly 40 percent of children in Taiwan spend less than an hour a day playing, while 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 spend their free time playing online games, a survey released on Monday last week by the Child Welfare League Foundation showed.
Although the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF recommends that every child have at least one hour of play time every day to promote healthy development, 37.7 percent of children aged six to nine in Taiwan have less than an hour of free play every day and 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 play for no more than one hour per day, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that 43.7 percent of elementary-school students have less than one hour of play time during weekdays and usually only play on weekends.
As children grow, they generally spend more time at school, doing homework and taking part in extracurricular activities, leaving little time for leisure activities, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 often play online games and 80 percent of parents consider such games to fall within the scope of “free play.”
Children playing video games passively receive a large amount of audio-visual information, but they seldom have opportunities for active participation or creative play, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that more than 40 percent of parents spend at least five days a week playing with their children, while 15.3 percent seldom or never play with their children.
In addition, only 54.3 percent of children regularly go to outdoor areas, such as parks, while 38 percent regularly visit indoor places, such as supermarkets, shopping centers, department stores or convenience stores.
The survey was conducted by the foundation from Dec. 24 last year to Jan. 22, using online questionnaires sent to parents of children aged one to 12. A total of 707 valid samples were collected.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
RSS