[August 24, 2011] Kids in Thailand risk exposure to 'improper' material Tweet BANGKOK, Aug 24, 2011 (The Nation - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Before it begins handing out free tablet computers to school children, Thai government should ensure its ability to effectively block students' access to inappropriate material on the Internet, a Thai discussion group urged on Tuesday. The group, meeting at Ramathibodi Hospital, suggested that Thai students of a more suitable age should be given the tablets, rather than Prathom 1 primary children, as planned. Not only do teachers of the target students have to be prepared for the use of the new technology, but parents should also learn how to use the tablets and understand the technology so they can monitor students' use of the tablets and prevent them from accessing improper websites and games. "Thailand's Office of Basic Education Commission secretary-general Chinnapat Bhumirat said schools would have a screening system to block students' access to the Internet as they would have to use the schools' intranet. We want this screening plan to be practical, but people are worried that it won't be, because children learn about technology very quickly [so they may be able to avoid the screening system]," said the head of the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Centre, Adisak Plitponkarnpim. Sirichai Hongsanguansri, a child psychiatrist at Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine in Thailand, said some children aged only 10 or 12 were now able to hack into data. Parents and paediatricians said they wanted parents in Thailand to be prepared and to learn about the technology so they could help their children make appropriate use of the tablets. Many had no experience of the technology. "Parents should be with primaryschool students when they use the tablets, while good and interesting software should be available for them to study. Thailand has screening systems, but they are not good enough to protect children," said the manager of the Internet Foundation for the Development of Thailand, Srida Tantaatipanit. Sirichai said he was worried about children's health, as research in foreign countries had found that game addiction could lead to unexplained somatic complaints. His own research found game addiction also caused obesity in children. "The policy to distribute the tablets to Prathom 1 students is likely to worsen their intelligence, health and behaviour if Thai government is unable to control the risk factors," he said. "Prathom 1 students cannot clearly identify what is right or wrong, or what they should or should not do. We should not allow children that are too young be exposed to improper programmes because this will result in a negative, rather than positive, impact on them." ___ (c)2011 Asia News Network (Hamburg, Germany) Visit Asia News Network (Hamburg, Germany) at www.asianewsnet.net/home/ Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]