ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 1,000 experts on technology addiction met in Istanbul on Tuesday to discuss modern-day dependency on the Internet and smartphones.
Turkey’s First Lady Emine Erdogan addressed a crowd at the third International Congress of Technology Addiction organized by Turkish Green Crescent Society (Yesilay), an anti-addiction body in Turkey.
“As of 2015, seven out of 10 houses in our country have an internet connection and 97 percent of the households have mobile phones,” Erdogan said.
“Children began to use mobile phones at the age of 10 [in Turkey]. Nine out of every 10 children watch television every day,” she added.
Speaking at the same event, Education Minister Nabi Avci gave information about the EBA (Education, Informatics Network), an online social education platform he described as the world’s largest.
“The EBA is a secure platform for all our students,” Avci said, adding that it also offered short films, documentaries as well as more than 100 educational online games.
Avci said that the platform had over 12 million registered users.
During the two-day congress, topics such as pathological internet usage, video game and mobile phone addictions, cyber bullying and cyber security will be discussed.
