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Irish tech company examines effects of internet usage on young people

Written by Robert McHugh, on 17th May 2017. Posted in Technology

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A dramatic rise in the use of computers and social media could be wreaking havoc on the health of young people, according to a new World Health Organisation report.
 
The WHO Report is based on the results of surveys sent to over 200,000 children in 42 countries and is entitled ‘Adolescent obesity and related behaviours: trends and inequalities in the WHO European Region, 2002-2014’. 
 
An Irish EdTech start-up, Zeeko, has begun examing this issue more closely in Ireland. Zeeko, founded by Joe Kenny in 2013 is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin and is an Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-up (HPSU) company.

Zeeko recently received European Union funding to evaluate the side effects of virtual reality technology on young people, in the areas of education, environment behaviour, empathy and health. Last year, Zeeko successfully ran a crowdfunding campaign to publish the Zeeko Internet Safety Guide. A free digital copy of the guide was sent to every primary school in Ireland.
 
A Zeeko 2016 survey of 4,400 primary school children in Ireland found that 34% of them spend more than 2 hours screen time per day during weekdays. This figure rises to 54% of them spending more than 2 hours screen time per day at weekends.
 
Zeeko promotes the 5 to 1 rule in primary schools, for every 5 hours doing non-internet/technology activities such as playing football or reading a book, a child can earn 1 hour using internet/technology. 
 
Zeeko Founder and CEO, Joe Kenny says, "The internet/technology is an integral part of young people’s academic, professional and personal lives with many benefits such as enhanced self-esteem, expression of identity, enhancement of interpersonal relationships and social interactions among others."

He added, "We need to invest and develop positive behaviours among primary school children in order alleviate the impact of excessive internet/ technology use among teenagers. We need to empower primary school children through education to strike a healthy balance between time using internet/ technology and non-internet activities."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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