Survey on Smartphone Usage Habits of 1st Graders... 17,000 Identified as 'At-Risk Group'

Announcement of Survey Related to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family

As a result of the diagnostic survey on smartphone usage habits targeting first-grade elementary school students, 16,699 were identified as the 'at-risk group' requiring usage guidance.

Photo by Yonhap News

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the '2023 Youth Internet and Smartphone Usage Habits Diagnostic Survey' containing these findings on the 24th. The ministry conducts related surveys annually targeting youths at school transition stages (4th grade elementary, 1st grade middle, and 1st grade high school). This survey is the first to include first-grade elementary students to understand the trend of earlier media overdependence.

Approximately 230,000 out of about 400,000 total survey targets participated, and 16,699 were identified as the overdependence at-risk group needing usage guidance due to difficulties adhering to designated usage times or adverse effects on eyesight and posture. Among the at-risk group, 9,608 were male elementary students and 7,091 were female elementary students.

In this regard, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to provide services for child-rearing and media usage guidance to guardians of first-grade elementary students identified as smartphone overdependence at-risk group.

Park Nansuk, Director of the Youth and Family Policy Office at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, stated, “The first-grade elementary diagnostic survey aims to understand children's media usage habits and guardians' parenting styles, and based on this, to properly guide children to develop healthy media usage habits.” “If there are difficulties in guidance at home, expert assistance is available at Youth Counseling and Welfare Centers nationwide.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.