With one student in seven Internet dependent, new communications carry dangers and challenges
According to Fr Andrea Lembo, new technologies "block affectivity". Information is exchanged but communication is not very deep. But it is not all bad: the new tools make it possible to reach people outside Japan.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) – One Japanese student in seven suffers from Internet addiction disorder, the Ministry of Health announced last Friday (31 August) with negative impact on their school results and day-to-day activities.
For Fr Andrea Lembo, PIME regional superior in Japan, the new technologies "block affectivity, and this gets amplified in Japan, becoming an excuse to avoid opening up."
A group of researchers led by Yoneatsu Osaki, professor of public health at Tottori University, last year surveyed 64,000 elementary and high school students in 103 schools.
Based on the data collected, some 930,000 students are addicted, mainly to online games or social networking sites, up by about 400,000 from the previous survey taken five years earlier. But the actual number could be “higher” because those absent from school were not among the respondents.
The results from the 2017 survey also show that Internet addiction is starting at a younger age, in early high school.
"In Japan, so many applications to communicate are available,” said Fr Lembo, “but there is a risk of isolation. This can be especially seen in kids who have a hard time connecting with others. Such tools are overused and this complicates interpersonal relations.”
"Two thoughts come to mind. First, a lot of information is exchanged but little is shared. Chatrooms are highly developed but they require speed, short sentences and words are at a minimum. It is not very deep communication: it is only an exchange of information.”
"I have reprimanded several of my kids who got together with a girl via chat and broke up via chat. They are afraid to look each other in the eye. Everything is exchanged online, but body language is lost.”
"Humans are essentially the word, manifestation of a communication that is done through body language, visual, non-visual. This is diminished, and syndromes typical of the developed world in communication develop: isolation, shame, fear of public speaking, difficulty in expressing one's own feelings."
This becomes more complicated if we consider the Japanese language, "where the tone that is used is always the same", whilst "feelings are inscribed in the grammatical forms."
"The second thought is positive. The new means of communication are a world with its dangers, but one that makes possible broader networking and greater intercultural connections, outside one’s country".
For the missionary, the new tools of communication should aim at "communication that makes sense".
For him, meetings between his guests and parish kids, separated by language, are one example. "Among young people, google translator can become a nice way to communicate, to overcome language barriers".
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