Two children, first and third graders, attend online classes via a tablet and notebook PC at their home in Gwangju, southwestern South Korea, on April 20, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 8 (Korea Bizwire) — With online classes becoming commonplace due to the spread of the coronavirus, South Korean students are using computers more often and reading less.
The state-run Korea Information Society Development Institute analyzed patterns of media use for students between 8 and 18 years of age during online classes.
The analysis showed that the share of students who used paper textbooks during online classes stood at 27.5 percent last year, far lower than 40.3 percent in 2019.
In contrast, the share of those who used desktops or notebook PCs during classes rose to 14.4 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively, last year from less than 5 percent in 2019.
Students also read less than before. The average daily reading time for students in 2020 stood at 280 minutes, down 83 minutes from 363 minutes in 2019.
As students stay at home more often due to COVID-19, they watched TV more than reading books.
In 2019, they tended to watch TV more than reading books from 7:30 pm.
In 2020, however, they watched TV more than reading books from 6 pm.
The institute said that after class, students don’t have to go back to home, so they can begin watching TV right away.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
