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LOST HOURS: Alarm over computer game use

Published on Oct 21, 2002The Nation

Parents must set limits, says new Chula survey

Turning their backs on just about everything else, many high-school students spend almost half the day glued to computer screens playing their beloved games, a recent survey has shown.

Some even play for as long as 15 hours a day, said Veenus Udomprasert of Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Health Research.

Veenus and co-researcher Chayakorn Srirat interviewed 1,390 male and female stud-|ents at the Chulalongkorn Demonstration School about |the time they spent playing the games.

The researchers discovered that a full 94 per cent of the students said they played the games, especially at lunch break and after school.

Seventy per cent of the stu-dents who have computers at |home said they used them for games.

On average, the youngsters played games for one or two hours on weekdays and three to four hours on the weekends.

The time rose to four to five hours during school holidays.

Veenus said a major factor contributing to the problem was parents.

"Actually, they mean well by |giving children access to the |new and important technology, |but they lack adequate infor-mation about what the kids use it for."

She proposed that parents should more closely monitor their children's computer time and the government should tighten its controls on the shops offering computer games.

Variations on soccer games are popular with boys, Chayakorn said.

He added that the games could improve typing and decision-making skills but were dangerous to sight and to health in general when children spent hour after hour playing them.

He advised parents to set a regulation and time limit for their children playing computer games at home.