Over 2.7m children in Thailand addicted to computer

[webfact]

Over 2.7m children addicted to computer
PAKAMAS JAICHALARD
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- MORE THAN 2.7 million children in the country are addicted to computer games, according to the latest estimate based on a nationwide survey.

Conducted during the second quarter of this year, the survey covered 20,000 children and suggests that as many as 15 per cent of children are addicted to gaming. There are about 18 million children in Thailand's population according to official statistics.

"Children with serious gaming addictions are aggressive and show a tendency towards violence. Some have even been found to physically hurt their parents, or attempt suicide when barred from playing games," Assoc Prof Chanvit Pornnoppadol said yesterday at an event to launch the "Thai Children and IT" project.

Chanvit, who works for the Department of Psychiatry, the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said that some gaming addicts also skipped classes and stayed awake late into the night to play games.

"They refuse to join school activities, become emotionally unstable, and show poorer academic performance," he said.

Children who developed serious forms of gaming addiction needed to undergo treatment, said Chanvit, adding that between 30 and 40 children seek treatment each year.

"However, I believe the number of children needing treatment is much higher than this," he said.

Speaking at the same event, Sura Techatat, adviser to the culture minister, acknowledged that IT technology also had its negative side.

"We have to watch out for problems that may occur with our children and try to find solutions," he said.

The Culture Ministry's permanent secretary Preecha Gunteeya said the ministry was seeking to provide children with safer access to computer technology.

"We are also trying to boost their access to safe and constructive media sources," he said.


-- The Nation 2013-10-15

[Soutpeel]

This article maybe true of children, but what about the addiction rate among "adults" ? one suspects the numbers are even higher

[notmyself]

This article maybe true of children, but what about the addiction rate among "adults" ? one suspects the numbers are even higher

Phone use? Uploading pictures of meals is rife and one wonders how long before pictures of the content of their bowels will appear.

[yooper2001]

This is a bad thing. In my opinion when kids play violent video games they become desensitized to violence. I feel this is why USA has a big problem with school shootings and teenage gun violence.

Children today do not play together and bond with other children, they become loners. Parents should control the amount of time that children spend time on the computer and control the content of what they are looking at.

Unfortunately the computer is becoming a baby sitter for parents.

[Soutpeel]

This article maybe true of children, but what about the addiction rate among "adults" ? one suspects the numbers are even higher

Phone use? Uploading pictures of meals is rife and one wonders how long before pictures of the content of their bowels will appear.

Often wondered about that one myself, why would it even occur to someone to post photo's of what they are currently eating or drinking for the world to see ?

[PatOngo]

One Student,One Tablet....2.7 million children so far addicted to computers....great strategy PTP.

[Soutpeel]

This is a bad thing. In my opinion when kids play violent video games they become desensitized to violence. I feel this is why USA has a big problem with school shootings and teenage gun violence.

School shootings in the US go back to way before video games were even invented, the one that springs to mind was the University shooting with the nutcase in the tower - late 1960's ?

[Soutpeel]

One Student,One Tablet....2.7 million children so far addicted to computers....great strategy PTP.

Well that didnt take long did it ?....Although the tablet program IMHO wasnt the smartest idea, as the money could have been used in other more needed areas in education, and I am certainly no fan of the PTP, dont you think parents are more accountable for what children are doing with the tablets away from school ?

[A1Str8]

They should have this Digital Detox here in Thailand too, in order to deal with empty headed people.

[jackr]

Children with serious gaming addictions are aggressive and show a tendency towards violence

So in-keeping with the rest of the populace then.

[Local Drunk]

I overwhelmingly prefer an alcohol addiction to a game addiction. If you're going to avoid reality; then do it the right way.

[muratremix]

Why Thai like to live everything to extreme sides?

Perhaps they should develop a more balanced ego and superego and drop "Losing Face" in social situations.

[jaltsc]

"Chanvit, who works for the Department of Psychiatry, the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said that some gaming addicts also skipped classes and stayed awake late into the night to play games..."They refuse to join school activities, become emotionally unstable, and show poorer academic performance,"

First of all, the study did not mention the gender of the children. From my observations, most, if not all the children I observe in computer cafes are male. Where do these children get the money to buy computers or go to play computer games outside of their homes? Most likely from their parents. Obviously, if they are playing games all day, they are not working to earn that money. This is just another example of parents who do not take the role of parenting seriously, They allow male children to do whatever they want to do and do not set boundaries. If they intervened at the first sign of their children spending too much time on computer games and set strict rules, many if not most of these children would not become psychologically "addicted". I doubt very much that there is a gene that predisposes males to become computer game addicts. This is nothing more than a case of culturally accepted spoiling of male children.

[kuiburi]

My kids attent a simple Temple school , the tablets are not allowed to take home .

After school the kids are welcomed back to play sports with some of the teachers , like volleybal , petanque , football , badminton .

Because its a small school and small community there is more social control .

The school is in the top 10 of best performing schools in Prachuap province , and sadly on the edge of being closed .

[gemini81]

My kids attent a simple Temple school , the tablets are not allowed to take home .

After school the kids are welcomed back to play sports with some of the teachers , like volleybal , petanque , football , badminton .

Because its a small school and small community there is more social control .

The school is in the top 10 of best performing schools in Prachuap province , and sadly on the edge of being closed .

But these tablets have an element of social control too; kids playing games, becoming zombies with low IQ's and dumbing them down to condition them or make them ignorant to the world around them. I doubt they will be used by young kids as a means of research, online libraries, or means of educating them and making them creative & innovative.

The kids you're talking about are healthy, active, and have social skills. That's far more than a piece of plastic can offer, huh?!

[kuiburi]

My kids attent a simple Temple school , the tablets are not allowed to take home .

After school the kids are welcomed back to play sports with some of the teachers , like volleybal , petanque , football , badminton .

Because its a small school and small community there is more social control .

The school is in the top 10 of best performing schools in Prachuap province , and sadly on the edge of being closed .

But these tablets have an element of social control too; kids playing games, becoming zombies with low IQ's and dumbing them down to condition them or make them ignorant to the world around them. I doubt they will be used by young kids as a means of research, online libraries, or means of educating them and making them creative & innovative.

The kids you're talking about are healthy, active, and have social skills. That's far more than a piece of plastic can offer, huh?!

believe it or not , but they actually use them in an educational way .

Depends on the teacher of how to use the tablets .

Funny thing is that the kids complain that they can't play games on them .

[ericjt]

Uhh --

Wait a second, guys. How were these tests run? How were the children selected? What were the criteria for deciding whether somebody was "addicted" or not? Who ran the tests? Who paid for the tests? How were the tests desiged? Any biases on the part of the testers or sponsors?

We don't know a darned thing about what actually happened here, but we've already got the testers expressing conclusions and the posters commenting on those conclusions as though they actually meant something.

Come on folks. We can all be a little smarter about this.

Sure, it's scary to watch a kid spaced out on a computer game, but I'll bet I look about the same when I watch "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad". And I don't think I'm addicted. We all get "carried away" with something we enjoy. That doesn't mean we're "addicted". We're starting to throw that word around pretty loosely. Maybe we should all step back and take a breath.

Edited October 15, 2013 by ericjt

[h90]

One Student,One Tablet....2.7 million children so far addicted to computers....great strategy PTP.

the tablets are so low quality and slow that there is no danger of game addiction with them.

[h90]

Uhh --

Wait a second, guys. How were these tests run? How were the children selected? What were the criteria for deciding whether somebody was "addicted" or not? Who ran the tests? Who paid for the tests? How were the tests desiged? Any biases on the part of the testers or sponsors?

We don't know a darned thing about what actually happened here, but we've already got the testers expressing conclusions and the posters commenting on those conclusions as though they actually meant something.

Some on folks. We can all be a little smarter about this.

Sure, it's scary to watch a kid spaced out on a computer game, but I'll bet I look about the same when I watch "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad". And I don't think I'm addicted. We all get "carried away" with something we enjoy. That doesn't mean we're "addicted". We're starting to throw that word around pretty loosely. Maybe we should all step back and take a deep breath.

It is now common to use the word addiction for just everything.

you cheat your wife, you are sex addicted

you buy more than you can effort you are shopping addicted

you like to play games and don't want to stop you are computer game addicted

But whatever you are never wrong, it is not lack of discipline, it is an addiction.......

I think it is a complete misuse of the word addiction.

[bangon04]

One Student,One Tablet....2.7 million children so far addicted to computers....great strategy PTP.

the tablets are so low quality and slow that there is no danger of game addiction with them.

But the policy is to introduce more children to the computer at a younger age, and increase dependency on computers simply because of a lack of directed learning skills.

[jaywalker]

Uhh --

Wait a second, guys. How were these tests run? How were the children selected? What were the criteria for deciding whether somebody was "addicted" or not? Who ran the tests? Who paid for the tests? How were the tests desiged? Any biases on the part of the testers or sponsors?

We don't know a darned thing about what actually happened here, but we've already got the testers expressing conclusions and the posters commenting on those conclusions as though they actually meant something.

Come on folks. We can all be a little smarter about this.

Sure, it's scary to watch a kid spaced out on a computer game, but I'll bet I look about the same when I watch "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad". And I don't think I'm addicted. We all get "carried away" with something we enjoy. That doesn't mean we're "addicted". We're starting to throw that word around pretty loosely. Maybe we should all step back and take a breath.

My 8 year old Daughter loves to watch Barbie videos on YouTube.

She also likes to draw, color, do homework & play ball & is a fanatical swimmer.

Pretty sure the only thing she's addicted to is the joy of life.

Living in 2013 involves a computer is all. I only wish more Thai folks would embrace the new technology.

My father passed on a few years back....He never did figure out a computer. He called the mouse a rabbit.

I have a younger brother that was constantly in trouble with the law back in Florida. He's in a mental institution now. I bought him a computer & hooked him up with a net connection several years ago at my parents' house.

He'd sit back there half the night, drinking sweet iced tea, surfing the net.

Mom was "worried" he was spending too much time on that "inner net"..... I asked her if she'd rather have him out running the roads drunk & stealing things (he's quite the klepto-maniac) or in his room drinking tea?

I bought my Mother an email machine for Christmas once. It would dial an 800 number every 12 hours to check for inbound messages & send any emails she had written out. Just a gray screen & a keyboard.

I think it was about $100 USD for a year. I was working all over creation, so couldn't renew it for her back in Florida. She never did figure it out.

My point is, there's nothing wrong with being a bit tech savvy in this day and age.

[umbanda]

Uhh --

Wait a second, guys. How were these tests run? How were the children selected? What were the criteria for deciding whether somebody was "addicted" or not? Who ran the tests? Who paid for the tests? How were the tests desiged? Any biases on the part of the testers or sponsors?

We don't know a darned thing about what actually happened here, but we've already got the testers expressing conclusions and the posters commenting on those conclusions as though they actually meant something.

Come on folks. We can all be a little smarter about this.

Sure, it's scary to watch a kid spaced out on a computer game, but I'll bet I look about the same when I watch "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad". And I don't think I'm addicted. We all get "carried away" with something we enjoy. That doesn't mean we're "addicted". We're starting to throw that word around pretty loosely. Maybe we should all step back and take a breath.

My 8 year old Daughter loves to watch Barbie videos on YouTube.

She also likes to draw, color, do homework & play ball & is a fanatical swimmer.

Pretty sure the only thing she's addicted to is the joy of life.

Living in 2013 involves a computer is all. I only wish more Thai folks would embrace the new technology.

My father passed on a few years back....He never did figure out a computer. He called the mouse a rabbit.

I have a younger brother that was constantly in trouble with the law back in Florida. He's in a mental institution now. I bought him a computer & hooked him up with a net connection several years ago at my parents' house.

He'd sit back there half the night, drinking sweet iced tea, surfing the net.

Mom was "worried" he was spending too much time on that "inner net"..... I asked her if she'd rather have him out running the roads drunk & stealing things (he's quite the klepto-maniac) or in his room drinking tea?

I bought my Mother an email machine for Christmas once. It would dial an 800 number every 12 hours to check for inbound messages & send any emails she had written out. Just a gray screen & a keyboard.

I think it was about $100 USD for a year. I was working all over creation, so couldn't renew it for her back in Florida. She never did figure it out.

My point is, there's nothing wrong with being a bit tech savvy in this day and age.

My Thai wife's nice is about 10 years old and live watching movies and playing with her 7" tablet or small I pod all day..at every moment......very closely....too closely. She now needs very high grade prescription glasses and it is in the way to get worst vision problems....Her parents, farmer family..do not care about....and she still doing it and without glasses. I can see learning problems at her school very soon....

[JoeThePoster]

Give a thousand kids a thousand iPads and sooner or later one of them will lead the charts at Clash of Clans.

[ericjt]

Check it out a little more closely, Anugoon. I don't think children get nearsighted or farsighted from looking at small things close up. I think it has to do more with changes in the elasticity of the lens in our eyeballs as we get older.

Computer games and/or small tablets might do some harm, but I don't think we can hang the need for glasses on them. Eyestrain and headaches maybe, but not the need for glasses. When I was a kid, we used to read comic books for hours under the covers at night using flashlights. That was certainly just as bad as playing computer games on small tablets, but somehow we (and our eyes) all survived.

If anyone knows more about eyes and damage to eyes than I do, please feel free to join in.