April 7, 2003
Growing use of cell phones cause computer illiteracy in Japan
Most teens and young adults in Japan don't use computers to surf the Internet. Instead they use cell phones to access a scaled-down wireless Web. The result: A growing computer literacy problem among Japan's youth.
How can this be in gizmo-crazed Japan? The answer lies in a combination of educational policy, peer pressure, and most importantly, the dramatic increase in the use of Internet-enabled cell phones in Japan over the last four years.
The primary motivation for a Japanese student to go online these days is not to use the Internet, but to get an e-mail address -- far cheaper and easier to do with a cell phone than a computer. E-mail exchanges between high school and college students in Japan today take place almost exclusively via cell phones. Excerpts from an eye-opening article published by Tim Clark in Japan Media Review
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