mobiles for children’s day
happy children’s day! :D
i left korea this morning, leaving behind a gift for my niece:
my korean mobile phone with a new case (with things that bling and pictures of cats).
she badly wanted a mobile phone for a while now. her argument is that it’s very dangerous to walk around (whether day or night) alone these days and therefore it’s ‘unavoidable’ for her to get a phone, which will connect her ‘whenever, wherever.’ she’s in 4th grade. she’s been online searching for ’seemingly’ free phones - i wonder if she’s looked around for advice on how to persuade parents to buy mobiles for them.
i got curious and did a search on naver’s jishikin (knowledge search - where people can ask/answer questions) the other day, and emphasising the danger (esp. for girls) was definitely one of the top suggestions. on the very top, surprisingly (or not), was ‘well, everyone else has got one and i’m the only one without it. i’ll be the wangtta (loner) of the class now.’ a lot of answers were written by children - quote obviously.
anyway, yahoo korea reports that mobiles have topped the list of gifts sought by South Korean children for their day this year:
The poll, conducted by the Korean-language Yahoo web site on 16,661 youngsters nationwide, said 37 percent picked cell phones as the best gift. Nintendo video game consoles ranked second on the list with 30 percent approval, followed by MP3 players with nine percent support.
full - though very short - story here
