Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com

Yemeni children spend their summer holidays in internet cafés

Posted in: Reports
Written By: Noura al-Amoudi
Article Date: Jul 1, 2008 - 5:13:09 AM
INTERNET.jpg
Yemeni children are spending an increasing amuont of their free time playing often violent computer games. Away from parental supervision, this can damage their social development.
As soon as the summer holidays start, thousands of children and teenagers finally have plenty of time to spare, for instance, in developing their abilities and learning new skills.    

Since the internet is the medium of this era, helping civilizations to understand and communicate with each other, the number of internet and computer users continues to grow among young people and children.

However, a lot of users ignore the benefits they can obtain from internet and simply turn the new technology to another way of wasting time and playing.

Basheer is one of the typical Yemeni teenagers who frequently go to internet cafés: “I spend around one to two hours a day in internet cafés. I just play computer games on the internet and rarely do I chat with my friends,” said Basheer.

The number of children and teenagers that spend their free time playing games in internet cafés is rapidly increasing. Bassam al-Shamy works in one café and explains that a large amount of the income that he gains comes from teenagers and children playing games. “The majority of our customers are children and teenagers that come just to play network games. All of the children who come to our café live nearby, so we know them and their families,” said al-Shamy.

Ayman, a 13-year-old, enjoys playing computer and internet games constantly in internet cafés near his home. He is also affiliated to a sport club but he still prefers to meet his friends and play network games with them. Another child who is addicted to network games, Mohammed, aged 12, explained: “I spend a lot of my money playing network games because it is interesting. When I play football on the street I feel tired and computer games are more fun than that,” said Mohamed.

One of the crucial problems is that most of the children are not familiar either with computer programs or with internet usage, and the only way for them to use a computer is through playing games. Many kids are attracted by such network games, and even kids that work and have a job can find some space in their time to enter a near café and play.

Aseel, a 10-years-old boy, is one of the children that has a scale and weigh people in the street for money. He works the whole day, and yet, he is addicted to play one or tow games per day or at least come to the internet café and watch other boys while they are playing.

One internet café workers, Mohamed al-Dogry, explains that he does not like the way such teens and children waste their time instead of playing sports, learning languages or reading books. Al-Dogry works in an internet café and he noticed that people rarely use the internet for emailing or chatting, “Computer games are the most popular,” he explains. “They waste their time in useless games and the majority of them are between eight to fifteen years old, which is a particularly impressionable age. However, the problem is that they have no other available places for entertainment,” continued al-Dogry.

While numerous internet cafés are opened every day, the number of children and teenagers who are attracted to such computer and internet games is increasing significantly. Some people think that nothing is wrong with teenagers playing games and enjoying their time. Laila, a Sana’a University student, said that these games have pros and cons. She explained that they are better than playing in the streets and getting hit by crazy drivers, but on the other side these games waste their money.

Another fellow student, Abdul-Rahman, a graduate from the Department of Psychology at Sana’a University, warns about the consequences of long-term exposure to such kind of computer and video games and about how children used to these games can show much more aggressive behavior. “There are many other options for them; sports and reading for example are good hobbies to spend their leisure time in a useful way,” said Abdul-Rahman.

“The increasing numbers of children and teenagers addicted to play computer games in such places is due to several causes,” said Afrah Mohammed who considers that “irresponsible parents are at the root of the problem. Also, many internet café owners are interested in making their own business, and what is good for these children is not of their concern,” continued Afrah.

Afrah thinks that the parents should look for suitable places for their children to take advantage of their summer holiday or at least to be aware of what their children are doing in their free time.

In this regard Abdul-Monem al-Harary, the Manager of Internet and Telecommunication’s Centers Department in the General Communication Institute asserts on the importance and need of cooperation with related authorities such as the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

“We cannot censor and supervise every single café, we have around two thousand to three thousand internet cafés in Sana’a, and we issued a list of specifications for internet centers but some people do not comply with our specifications,” said al-Harary.

Al-Harary explained that one of the codes in the list said that children under 12 years old are not allowed to enter any internet café except with their parents.

Al-Harary added that the Ministry of Telecommunication is to launch an inspection campaign and survey on internet cafés at the beginning of July. A committee was already established for this task as well as a complete team of technicians to perform the inspections. The team will divide the capital Sana’a into blocks in order to cover all areas in the capital and localize all internet cafés violating regulations, which will be shut down. The campaign will last for five months after which the second phase will reach other governorates.

According to many kids that the Yemen Observer spoke to, games of murder and robbery are the most popular and sometimes they spend more than five hours per a day playing such aggressive games or watching other boys while they are playing. This may affect the character of the future generations of Yemen, unless serious actions are taken by the entire Yemeni community to save the children and our future as well.