Cell Phone Addiction Program
November 23, 2007 2:35 PM | Interesting | Comments (0)
| Are you a cell phone addict? I know if I leave my home without my cell phone I feel lost. I feel naked and disconnect from the world. I wonder what I will do if my car breaks down on the highway or what if a love one needs to get in touch with me immediately. I'll sometimes turn around to head back home to get my cell phone after driving several miles. Sometimes I will keep driving because I'll remind myself that people got along fine (including me) without cell phones. I may not be an addict but I can see how people can become addicted. Soon we may have people entering programs for “cell phone addicts”! Koreans love their cell phone and maybe the first country on the planet to conduct a program to help cure cell phone addiction among their young citizens. Korea has one of the world's most advanced cell phone systems with high quality services. As a result, cell phone usage has dominated many teenagers’ daily lives. This has caused them to become "cell phone addicts". |  |
Teachers in Korea who confiscate student’s cell phones are realizing that some students become really nervous and will cry while begging for the phone to be returned.
A survey by the Korean Association for Information Society in 2001 showed 74.9 percent of young people felt nervous without their cell phones. Such enthusiasm for the mobile phones and its side effects have led to an education program designed to prevent cell phone abuse. The Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), School Beautiful Movement (a civic group) and SK Telecom have launched a campaign to teach young people proper cell phone use. According to a survey conducted by KADO, 90 percent of students in 2005 between 14 and 19 years old had mobile phones; 38.2 percent sent more than 1,000 text messages per month; and 43.7 percent had conversations with their friends through text messages during lectures.
Twelve elementary, middle and high schools were selected for the pilot program. For the next two months, the students will speak about their cell phone use, the symptoms they experience when they are without a cell phone and consider proper use of the phones as consumers. The schools will have cell phone lockers, where students voluntarily put their phones preventing their use during class time. The Koreans are hoping to develop this program to prevent and help "cell phone addicts".
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