It was 4 a.m. when 16-year-old Yoo Chae-rin realized she had been on her phone for 13 hours. In less than three hours, she had to be up for school.
The South Korean high school student knew she had a problem, so she enrolled in a government-run camp for teenagers who can’t put their phones down.
“Even when I knew in my head I should stop using my smartphone, I just kept going,” Yoo said. “I couldn’t stop, so I’d be on it until dawn.”
South Korea has one of the highest ownership of smartphones in the world. More than 98% of South Korean teens used one in 2018, according to government figures — and many are showing signs of addiction.
Last year, around 30% of South Korean children aged 10 to 19 were classed as “overdependent” on their phones, according to the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology (MSIT). That means they experienced “serious consequences” due to their smartphone use, including a decline in self-control.
To read more, click: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/20/asia/smartphone-addiction-camp-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
By Sophie Jeong, CNN
