Behaviour of Children and Adolescents and the Use of Mobile Phones in Primary Schools in the Czech Republic.

Gerardo Gómez-García,Francisco-Domingo Fernández-Martín,René Szotkowski,Kamil Kopecký,Klára Mikulcová

doi:10.3390/ijerph18168352

Abstract

Today’s young people spend most of their time in contact with mobile devices. Their excessive use carries many risks, such as addiction, cyberbullying and social disruption. Based on this, this study analysed the mobile phone use of young Czechs between 7 and 17 years old (n = 27.177) and assessed the differences in their behaviour according to the mobile device use policies of their schools. The results show that the use of mobile phones was linked to the one of the social networks, YouTube and videogames for the most part. Similarly, those young people who had them at school preferred to use them, instead of practicing sports or social activities. On the other hand, in the centres in which the use of mobile phones was prohibited, they felt bored and without activities to do. Therefore, it will be necessary for schools to implement educational policies that encourage activities and areas of social interaction in the school, especially during recess. However, at the same time, it is recommended not to prohibit the use of technological devices in the educational centre, since this fact encourages students to use them secretly and increases their desire to use them. To this end, its use in the classroom is advocated from an educational perspective, thus promoting collaborative learning and increasing student motivation.

Highlights

Since the end of the 20th century, the intensification and scope of the use of new electronic media by children and young people has been growing systematically
As a result of this idea, this research aims at understanding attitudes towards mobile phone use by children and adolescents, in the Czech Republic, in order to provide a general framework of information on the child–mobile phone relationship both in their everyday life and in the school setting
We focused on active usage of mobile phones by children

Summary

Introduction

Since the end of the 20th century, the intensification and scope of the use of new electronic media by children and young people has been growing systematically. Media reports for 2019 indicated, there has been a dizzying increase on the use of mobile phone, especially at younger ages [3,4], which places the start of the interaction with this device from the age of 7 [5]. This is due to the changes in lifestyles being experienced by young people as a result of the advent of the information society [6]. The arrival of events such as the YouTuber phenomenon, which turns young people into receivers and creators of their own content, has led to an increase in the consumption rates of mobile devices in recent years [9,10]

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