AP Technology Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Park Jung-in, an
11-year-old South Korean, sleeps with her Android smartphone
instead of a teddy bear. When the screen beams with a morning
alarm, she wakes up, picks up her glasses and scrolls through
tens of unread messages from friends, shaking off drowsiness.
Throughout the day, the gadget is in her hands whether she is in
school, in the restroom or in the street as she constantly types
messages to her friends. Every hour or so, she taps open an
application in her phone to feed her digital hamster. "I get
nervous when the battery falls below 20 percent," Park said as
she fiddled with the palm-size gadget. "I find it stressful to
stay out of the wireless hotspot zone for too long." In South
Korea, where the government provides counseling programs and
psychological treatment for an estimated 2 million people who
cannot wean themselves from playing online computer games,
youngsters such as Park have previously not been considered as
potential addicts. Here and