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  • South Korean civic group set to rid country of mobile phone addiction?

    by 
    Sean Cooper
    Sean Cooper
    11.25.2007

    In an effort to battle the evils of mobile culture and it addictive effects, the civic group School Beautiful Movement together with SKT Telecom and Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity (KADO), has launched a program to help kids better manage their cell use. Twelve kids were chosen from elementary, middle, and high schools to participate in the program and will spend time talking about the cell use, feelings when their cell isn't available, and proper use over the next two months. The program will also feature special cell phone lockers for the kids to hide their handsets away in during class time if the urge is just too great. In a KADO survey from 2005 it was revealed that 90% of South Koreans between 14 and 19 had mobiles and 38% of those sent more than 1,000 text messages a month, and 43% reported using them during -- gasp -- lectures. While we think this is all a very good idea -- and know that we could totally quit anytime we wanted to, we just don't want to -- we have to wonder why SKT is onboard here, perhaps new mobile for all the participants SKT?