Comprehension: Ultra-Wired South Korea Battles Smartphone Addiction

South Korea's pride in its high-tech prowess is now tinged by anxiety over digital addiction, with even pre-school children showing symptoms of IT obsession.

Watch the video and answer the questions below.  Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. About 30% of South Koreans DON’T have smartphones.
a. True
b. False

2. 10% of teenagers are smartphone addicts.
a. True
b. False

3. Seoul has a reputation for being the most wired city in the world.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

This is a boot camp with no sweat and no tears at least for the moment.  The session, run by a civic group in Seoul, aims to show there’s more to life than being online.  These children are internet and smartphone addicts.

"Smartphone addiction is not only talking about children playing a lot with their smartphones but causing conflicts in their families."
                  
 About 70 percent of South Koreans have smartphones; believed to be the highest penetration rate in the world.  It’s estimated that one in five teenagers is an addict.
                   
Park Sung-Hee, like many parents here, says she has problems communicating with her two children. 

"My kids play games on their smartphones until bedtime. Sometimes when I go check on them at night the smartphones are still running in the dark.”  

Her son spends four hours a day online and doesn’t see what the problem is. 

"When I’m not playing games my mom still yells at me for playing them. She doesn’t even allow me to go on the internet which makes me mad."
                    
Campaigners say some teenagers resort to violence and self-harm when their smartphones are confiscated.   The government’s now asking schools to extend their no-phone policy and organise holiday "boot camps" to try to wean students off their dependency.  But some warn against overstating the problem and demonising technology.
                                        
"I don't believe humanity will vanish because nobody in the future will be talking to anybody else because of IT devices."                    

South Korea is proud of its high-tech prowess and Seoul’s reputation as the most wired city on the planet.  But many are now asking whether the price they’re paying is too high.

Answers:
1. a
2. b
3. a

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