What would a country ought to do if 90% of the students age 14 to 19 have mobile phones, 38% of that send more than 1,000 text messages per month and 44% are texting even during lectures?



Well, South Korea is the first country ever to create a program to fight mobile addiction among teenagers. The team up with civic group School Beautiful Movement, Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), and SK Telecom aims to teach the youth generation how to properly use mobile phones. According to The Korea Times:

Twelve elementary, middle and high schools were selected for the pilot program Tuesday. ``For the next two months, students of these schools will speak about their phone use, discuss the symptoms they experience when they are without a mobile phone, and consider proper use of the phones as consumers,'' the member said.

The schools will have cell phone lockers, where students voluntarily put their phones preventing their use during class time.

In a way, mobile phones are the new video games for many people across the world. A deeper study might be needed to assess the negative impact of mobile phones to these teenagers. Perhaps a stricter initiative like cellphone ban during classes will be more appropriate.

Via Engadget Mobile