Gov't launches camps to help families manage kids’ screen time

A promotional poster for “Miri Camp,” a nationwide media literacy initiative tailored specifically for first- and second-grade elementary school students and their parents. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

For parents navigating the anxieties of the digital age, the smartphone has become both an indispensable babysitter and a source of deep domestic guilt. In Korea, where high-speed connectivity is ubiquitous, the battle over screen time starts early.

Now, the government is stepping into the living room to help families manage the digital deluge.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in tandem with the Korea Press Foundation, announced on Wednesday the launch of "Miri Camp 2026," a nationwide media literacy initiative tailored specifically for first- and second-grade elementary school students and their parents.

Expanding on a successful pilot program from last year, the camp will run from July 30 to Aug. 15 across six major regional hubs, including the Seoul metropolitan area and Sejong, as well as the Gangwon, Gyeongsang, Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces.

The ministry said the three-day program is not designed to demonize technology, but to treat media consumption as a skill to be mastered. Operating out of regional media centers and public libraries, the camp will bring together 15 selected families per region for a series of interactive, play-based workshops.

Using "Roni School" — a gamified curriculum developed by the Korea Press Foundation — children will learn to distinguish commercial advertising from content, understand basic digital ethics and even script and produce their own cutout animations.

Crucially, the initiative recognizes that the root of childhood tech addiction often lies in parental exhaustion and a lack of guidance. On the final day of each camp, child-development experts will host specialized seminars for parents, offering practical strategies to establish healthy media habits at home and addressing the modern isolation of summer child care gaps.

The program is entirely free, funded by the state to bridge the regional infrastructure gap in media education. Applications open online from June 10-26.

"Our goal is to make media literacy an everyday habit," a ministry official said. "By teaching families how to critically consume information together, we hope to foster a safer, more intentional digital culture from the ground up."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.