‘Extreme users’: One in six Kiwi teens online for 6+ hours a day

NZ Herald 19 April 2017
Family First Comment: “Overall the survey has found that Kiwi 15-year-olds average 163 minutes online outside school each weekday, up from 98 minutes in 2012. The times are almost identical for girls (165 minutes) and boys (161 minutes).”
But nobody is asking some key questions! What effect is it having on children’s physical health (e.g. eyes) and what are they NOT doing while they’re looking at screens (e.g. Physical activities, outdoors, socialising, empathising etc)
One in six Kiwi 15-year-olds is now online for more than six hours a day, an international survey has found.
The Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) tested 540,000 15-year-olds across 73 countries, including 4453 in New Zealand, mainly on their educational performance.
Its latest report, covering the students’ personal wellbeing in 2015, shows that Kiwi 15-year-olds classed as “extreme” internet users because they are online outside school hours on weekdays for at least six hours a day have almost trebled from 6.1 per cent in the last survey in 2012 to 17.3 per cent.
Their schoolwork is suffering: 31 per cent of the “extreme” group had skipped a day’s school in the previous fortnight, compared with 15 per cent of “moderate” users (1-2 hours a day).
But Netsafe director Martin Cocker said time spent online was actually less important than what the teens were doing online.
“Where what they are doing online is harming their relationships, their education, affecting their sleep, absolutely that’s when you need to intervene,” he said.
“But if your child is doing well at school and has good, solid relationships, then I would say don’t worry about how much time they are spending on the internet.”
Overall the survey has found that Kiwi 15-year-olds average 163 minutes online outside school each weekday, up from 98 minutes in 2012. The times are almost identical for girls (165 minutes) and boys (161 minutes).
We have leapt from below the 102-minute average of the 35-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2012 to well above the 146-minute average now – probably because of the dramatic spread of smartphones.
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