First-year elementary-school students in Taiwan spend up to three hours per day using mobile electronics, and less than five hours per week exercising, a National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) study found.
Students spend an average of one hour and 25 minutes per day using smartphones and tablets on weekdays, and three hours and six minutes on weekends and holidays, the university said yesterday.
The study also found that in some households where parents did not set limits on the use of electronics, children spent nearly four hours per day over weekends and holidays using the devices, it said.
Meanwhile, the students on average spend only four hours and 50 minutes per week exercising, the university said, adding that first-year elementary-school students in the US spend at least seven hours per week exercising.
The study, which aimed to better understand developmental issues in children, was initiated by Chang Chien-ju (張鑑如), a professor in the university’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies.
Researchers analyzed information collected nationwide between March 2016 and this month on 6,590 children aged three months at the start of the study, and 2,164 children aged three years at the start of the study.
It found that more than half of elementary-school students attend cram schools and other programs, and spend only two to three hours at home before bed time.
Of that time, half is on average spent using mobile electronics, Chang said, adding that only 15 percent were prohibited from watching TV or using electronics after returning home, she said.
The students typically use mobile devices to watch cartoons, rather than to play video games as older students do, she said.
“Ninety-seven percent of parents who allow electronics have rules about how long they can be used, and that their children, for example, must complete their homework before using them,” she said.
The WHO and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children’s screen time not exceed one hour and 30 minutes per day, she said.
Exercise is also important for a child’s development, Chang said, adding that Taiwanese children generally do not engage in exercise outside of physical education classes they attend weekly at school.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS