Korean toddlers' screen time clashes with WHO standards: survey

More than half of Korean toddlers begin using smartphones before their second birthday, running counter to international pediatric guidelines. According to a survey of 400 parents published Monday, 50.98 percent of children started using smartphones before age 2, and 77.64 percent began before age 3. The findings appeared in the research journal MIND, published by the Mental Health Research Institute at the National Center for Mental Health. Parents identified 12 to 23 months as the most common starting age, cited by 37.18 percent of respondents. Other age groups included 24 to 35 months at 26.66 percent and zero to 11 months at 13.80 percent. A smaller share began between 36 and 47 months at 12.39 percent and between 48 and 59 months at 12.96 percent. On weekdays, daily smartphone use remained largely under an hour, reported by 56.78 percent of parents, while 32.74 percent reported no use and 9.46 percent reported one to three hours. Weekend screen time surged as the share of children using smartphones for one to three hours more than doubled to 22.58 percent. The share of children with