By Meera Dolasia
 |
|
As
our world goes increasingly digital, kids are spending an inordinate amount of time with their electronic devices
- smartphones, computers and tablets. This has raised concern among experts who
believe that this habit is detrimental to
children's well-being. Now the government of one country has taken an unusual
measure to curb this "harmful"
activity.
|
On
January 24th, the lawmakers in Taiwan revised their “Child and Youth Welfare
and Protection Act,” to include the "excessive" use of electronic
devices or what they call 3C products.
According to the amendment, parents are liable if their children become ill, either physically
or mentally, as a result of spending too much time in front of their electronic
screens. Those found guilty will have to pay a penalty of
$50,000 Taiwanese Dollars ($1595 USD) for the "offense."
The
amendment does not stipulate what constitutes
"excessive" time or how the government plans to monitor families.
Nevertheless, Taiwanese residents are up in arms with the new law that they
believe is a blatant invasion of their privacy.
Whether anyone will ever get fined remains to be seen, but it has once again
brought forth an issue that is causing concern worldwide.
Taiwan's
neighbor China imposed a similar law after a 2008 study revealed that one-tenth
of Chinese citizens between the ages of 13-30 suffer from Internet addiction.
According to the report, a person is considered "addicted" if he or
she demonstrates one or more of the following symptoms: feels happier online,
gets upset or depressed when cut off from the Internet or lies to his/her
family members about the time spent online.
In
Australia, the Council on Children and Media is urging the government to
consider restrictions on the age of smartphone
ownership. Their primary concern is that the unsupervised use of technology amongst
kids as young as ten, is the cause of the recent spike in cyberbullying.
Even
Pope Francis is concerned! In his annual message for the church's World Day of
Communications that was released on January 23rd, the Pope said the media is
both helping and hindering family communication.
He said it aids loved ones that are scattered all over the world to stay in
touch but can also result in those that are closest to avoid each other. In his
address, he challenged families to "learn once again how to talk to one
another."
So
why is it so important to curb the amount of time children spend on
electronics? In addition to the issues raised above, excessive media use is
also being linked to obesity, behavioral
problems, learning difficulties and sleep disorders.
The American Academy of
Pediatrics recommends that kids under two should not be exposed to media at
all, while those between 3-18 should limit themselves to 2 hours.
Given
that American children spend an average of 8-11 hours a day parked in front of
some kind of digital device, it would mean radical
change in lifestyle. While parental controls may be effective with younger
kids, they are harder to enforce on tweens and teens. Hence, the only solution
is some self-imposed restrictions by kids
themselves - are you up for the challenge?
Source:
http://www.dogonews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment