4/15/2006

Japan warned of media impact on children
….digital media can deprive children of sleep, opportunities to communicate with others and play outdoors, which can affect their physical and mental development, said Children and Media, a nonprofit organization in Fukuoka on Kyushu…
… 2004 study for the government found that roughly one in four primary and middle-school pupils spent more than six hours per day in contact with various media. That pushes back the youngsters’ normal bedtime, the group said. For example, only 25 percent of children in fourth grade and 10 percent of those in sixth grade go to bed before 9 p.m., the study discovered… The average bedtime for 3- to 5 year-olds has now passed 10 p.m., she said. The loss of sleep “is believed to cause more children to have concentration problems and behavioral disorders, becoming upset or impulsive.”...more...

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve seen Japanese grade-school kids stumbling and nodding off standing up on the trains on their way to and from school. These poor kids under the age of 12 seldom go to bed before midnight from what I have observed in my condo building. Right now it’s 11:30pm and looking out from my window to the apartment block across the street I see several different kids under the age of 10 at their desks studying in their rooms. Sheesh. The rest of the kids are bathed in the blue glow of TVs, video games and computers. NONE of the these 20 or so young kids are in bed—all the windows have their lights on in the entire apartment block.