This file photo shows a person playing online games at an internet cafe in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — As an increasing number of teenagers are spending long hours playing video games in the pandemic era, the risk of addiction has doubled among them.
The Korea Creative Content Agency reported Tuesday that the gaming population among all teenagers between 11 and 19 years of age grew from 77.1 percent in 2019 and 77.9 percent in 2020 to 80.9 percent last year.
Among them, “healthy gamers” accounted for 24.1 percent of the total, and ordinary gamers 53.3 percent. Excessive gamers accounted for 0.5 percent, while 3 percent were facing the risk of excessive gaming.
The ratio of teenage gamers facing the risk of excessive gaming doubled from 1.6 percent in 2020 to 3 percent last year.
Among the respondents, 74.6 percent of teenage gamers with the risk of excessive gaming, 63.9 percent of excessive gamers, 56.6 percent of healthy gamers and 32.8 percent of ordinary gamers played games almost every day.
The statistics are similar to the year 2020, soon after the coronavirus outbreak, during which teenagers began to spend less time outdoors and more time on indoor hobbies, the report said.
Asked about their parents’ knowledge of their gaming practices, a majority of teenagers said their parents are “well aware” of their gaming activities.
Only 4.2 percent of excessive gamers, however, said that their parents weren’t aware of their gaming activities.
Another 3.4 percent of those facing the risk of excessive gaming said likewise, exceeding the overall response rate among healthy gamers (0.8 percent) and ordinary gamers (1.5 percent).
Parents’ knowledge about their children’s gaming activities, therefore, may influence their gaming behavior, the report said.
The report was based on an online survey conducted in September and October of last year of 20,000 elementary schoolers between 1st and 3rd grade and their parents, and 100,000 elementary schoolers (4th to 6th grades), middle and high school students and their parents.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
