During summer break, many children spend their days attending camps, enrichment programs, or traveling with their families. For children living in rural communities, however, summer often tells a very different story. Instead of opportunities and new experiences, many face a dual challenge of material deprivation and growing digital risks. As parents work long hours to support their families, many children spend much of the school break without adult supervision, with smartphones becoming their primary source of companionship. At the same time, unsupervised internet access and age-inappropriate social media platforms are exposing children in rural communities to increasing risks that threaten both their well-being and their online privacy.

Against this backdrop, the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) held a press conference on July 6 titled "Different Lives Online and Offline:  Summer Realities for Children in Urban and Rural Areas" Hong-Wen Li (李宏文), Deputy Director of CWLF's Policy Development and Advocacy Department, presented findings from the 2026 Survey on the Well-Being of Children in Urban and Rural Areas in Taiwan [1]. He was joined by Yan-Chi Huang (黃巖棋), Director of Student Affairs at Shin Cheng Elementary School (新成國小); Chung-Hsiu Kuo (郭仲修), Secretary-General of the Xingren Community Development Association (興仁社區發展協會); Qetun Silan (格耶頓·希藍), Social Work Supervisor at the Ngasanl-Maku Social Welfare Development Association (那山麻谷社福發展協會); and a student representative from an elementary school in a rural area. Together, they urged policymakers and the public to recognize the growing challenges faced by children in rural areas during extended school breaks and to take collective action to address both material hardship and digital risks.

Key Survey Highlights
• Hunger and Loneliness During Summer Break
• Digital Dependence and Well-Being
• Online Privacy and Contact Risks
• Digital Parenting Challenges
• Three Actions to Protect Children During School Breaks

The survey found that rates of both personal digital device ownership and social media use among children in rural areas exceed 85%. Their use of platforms such as TikTok and Rednote is roughly twice as high as that of children in urban areas. For many children in rural areas, scrolling through social media has become more common than opening a textbook. Although excessive screen time raises online safety concerns for children in both urban and rural areas, the nature of the risks they face differs significantly.

Urban children are more likely to encounter commercial pressures online, with 13.7% reporting they had been asked to make in-game purchases. Rural children, by contrast, face far greater privacy risks. 36.0% have publicly shared personal information online, and they are significantly more likely to be asked by strangers to send personal photos or join video calls. At the same time, parents in both urban and rural communities face similar challenges with digital parenting—providing children with devices but lacking the time, guidance, or tools to supervise their online activities. Without consistent adult support, many children are left to navigate an increasingly complex online world on their own.

To better protect children during extended school breaks, CWLF urges the government to amend the Child and Juvenile Welfare and Rights Protection Act by adding a dedicated chapter on children's rights to communication and privacy protection, requiring online platforms to conduct child risk assessments and strengthen their responsibility to safeguard children. At the same time, CWLF has launched a free Online Safety Guide, available for schools, community-based organizations, and parents to download and use.

Only by expanding direct support for children and families, strengthening digital safety education, and advancing legal protections can Taiwan better safeguard children's well-being—both offline and online.

[1] The survey was conducted by CWLF between December 8, 2025, and February 6, 2026. It surveyed students in Grades 4–6 at elementary schools in rural and urban areas across Taiwan, collecting 1,930 valid responses. The rural sample included 1,162 children from schools receiving CWLF financial assistance and community organizations participating in CWLF's Community Coalition and Empowerment Program. The urban sample consisted of 768 children randomly selected from the six districts and townships with the highest average individual income tax, based on national tax statistics.

Some Children in Rural Areas Face Hunger and Loneliness During the Summer Break

CWLF's survey found that more than one in five children in rural areas regularly go hungry during school breaks, often relying on snacks instead of proper meals. Material hardship extends beyond food and into many aspects of daily life. More than 20% of children in rural areas continue wearing damaged, stained, or ill-fitting school uniforms or shoes with holes because their families cannot afford replacements. 31.8% said they frequently worry about school fees.

Families in rural areas often face greater financial and caregiving pressures, making it more difficult for parents to provide the emotional support their children need. Children in rural areas are nearly six percentage points less likely than children in urban areas to eat dinner with their parents (84.0% vs. 89.7%). They are also less likely to receive comfort and support from family members when they are feeling upset (83.1% vs. 88.2%).

Opportunities for recreation and cultural activities are similarly limited. Only 29.9% of children in rural areas reported attending activities such as exhibitions or concerts with their families, compared with 50.5% in urban areas. With fewer opportunities for meaningful family interaction and cultural experiences, 23.1% of children in rural areas said they often struggle to understand or express their own emotions. The lack of companionship and emotional support may leave children in rural areas more inclined to seek comfort in the digital world.

At the press conference, a student from a rural community in Taichung's Dongshi District shared that most of the summer break is spent at home, with few opportunities to travel or participate in activities. Although family members try to set limits on phone use, smartphones often become children's closest companions during long, unstructured days.

Long School Breaks and Digital Risks Take a Toll on the Well-Being of Children in Rural Areas

The survey highlights a stark contrast between how children in urban and rural communities spend their summer breaks. For children in urban areas, structured activities such as after-school programs, enrichment classes, and travel within Taiwan or abroad fill nearly 40% to 50% of their school break schedules [2]. By contrast, apart from school-organized camps, children in rural areas often have few structured activities or opportunities for companionship during much of their school break [3]. As a result, smartphones and other digital devices have increasingly become "digital babysitters"—an affordable and readily available way for busy parents to keep children occupied. Without consistent supervision or guidance, children in rural areas now spend an average of 20.8 hours online each week, nearly twice as long as children in urban areas.

Yan-Chi Huang, Director of Student Affairs at Shin Cheng Elementary School, noted that while schools in rural areas now have access to digital devices comparable to those in urban schools, providing meaningful after-school and weekend activities still depends heavily on funding and family support. Although CWLF has supported schools in establishing sports clubs, many parents in farming communities spend more time tending to crops than caring for their children. After school, many children return to empty homes, where mobile games and tablets often become their main source of entertainment and companionship. Huang sees this lack of companionship as a major factor behind their longer screen time.

As smartphones become a substitute for companionship, the survey also points to signs of digital dependence among children in rural areas. The survey found that 85.9% of children in rural areas own personal digital devices, and 88.5% use social media. Although mobile gaming is similarly common among children in urban and rural areas, the use of TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Rednote, and Threads among children in rural areas is roughly twice as high as among those in urban areas [4]. Of particular concern is the widespread use of social media among elementary school children in rural areas despite the platforms' minimum registration age of 13. This points to gaps in platform safeguards and raises concerns about the potential effects of excessive social media use on children's physical and emotional well-being.

The survey also found that 45.5% of children in rural areas reported often feeling the urge to pick up their phones even when they had not intended to use them. 25.9% experienced physical symptoms such as eye strain or muscle pain, while more than 20% said they became restless or irritable when unable to access social media. Excessive screen time combined with unhealthy digital habits is steadily undermining children in rural areas' physical and emotional well-being.

Qetun Silan, a social work supervisor who has worked extensively in Indigenous communities, explained that many primary caregivers leave home early and return late because of work, while after-school activities remain limited. As a result, smartphones have become children's primary source of entertainment. Community centers therefore play an essential role. They not only provide safe spaces where children can spend time with trusted adults, but also offer a variety of activities and new experiences that enrich children's lives.

of caregiving.

[3] The six most common activities among children in rural areas during school breaks were participating in camps (49.0%), doing homework or practicing extracurricular skills (45.7%), visiting friends or classmates (41.3%), spending most of their time on digital devices at home (36.3%), taking care of younger siblings or other family members (29.7%), and hanging around outside with no specific activities planned (24.7%).

Children in Rural Areas Face Greater Privacy Risks and More Online Requests from Strangers

As social media becomes an increasingly common part of children's daily lives, it also brings potential risks related to privacy and interactions with strangers online. CWLF's survey found that 36.0% of children in rural areas have publicly shared personal information through social media posts or stories, compared with 27.1% of children in urban areas. Personal photos were the most commonly shared type of personal information, reported by 57.1% of children in rural areas, compared with 40.6% in urban areas. Many also shared details such as their location, school, class, or real name, leaving their personal information exposed to unknown risks.

The survey further found that nearly 30% of children, regardless of where they live (27.5% in rural areas and 27.9% in urban areas), reported being approached by strangers online, indicating that this is a common concern in both urban and rural areas. However, the nature of the risks differs significantly. Children in urban areas are more likely to encounter commercial pressures online, such as being asked to make in-game purchases (13.7% in urban areas vs. 2.7% in rural areas).  Children in rural areas, by contrast, face substantially greater privacy and personal safety risks. They are significantly more likely to be asked to send personal photos or videos (20.0% in rural areas vs. 8.2% in urban areas) or participate in video calls with strangers (18.8% in rural areas vs. 10.3% in urban areas), placing them at greater risk of online exploitation and privacy violations.

Parents in Rural Areas Provide Digital Devices but Face Challenges With Digital Parenting

Parents are children's first line of defense in the digital world, yet CWLF's survey found that families in both rural and urban communities face significant challenges in guiding children's online behavior.

When it comes to screen time, 24.6% of children in rural areas reported having no parental limits on their internet use, compared with 11.4% in urban areas. Even in households where screen time rules had been established, around one in five children admitted they rarely followed them (21.9% in rural areas and 18.1% in urban areas).

The survey also found a disconnect between providing children with digital devices and discussing rules for their use. Before receiving their own digital devices, 44.5% of children in rural areas and 37.8% of children in urban areas said they had never discussed with their parents which websites, apps, or games were appropriate to use. Even among families that had established digital rules, approximately one in ten children reported that they rarely followed them (13.3% in rural areas and 8.3% in urban areas).

Overall, the findings reveal a common challenge across both rural and urban families: children are given digital devices, but often without the ongoing guidance, supervision, and reinforcement needed to help them navigate the online world safely. As a result, many are left to face increasingly complex digital risks on their own.

Chung-Hsiu Kuo, Secretary-General of the Xingren Community Development Association, warned that children are going online at younger ages while digital risks continue to grow in both scale and complexity. Frontline practitioners are particularly concerned about online sexual exploitation and relationship scams , as children often lack the experience to recognize false identities created by strangers. Kuo emphasized that most parents care deeply about their children's safety—the challenge is not a lack of concern, but a lack of familiarity with today's rapidly evolving digital environment. Protecting children online cannot be left to families alone. The government must strengthen protections for children through legislative reform that holds digital platforms accountable, while also investing in parents' digital parenting skills so that risks can be addressed before children are harmed, rather than only after harm has occurred.

Protecting Children in Rural Areas During School Breaks—CWLF Calls for Action in Three Key Areas

Addressing the challenges children in rural areas face during summer break requires more than limiting screen time. To address both material hardship and digital risks, CWLF calls for action in three areas: expanding direct support for children and families, strengthening digital safety education, and advancing legislative reform. Together, these measures can provide stronger protection for children's well-being both offline and online.

1. Expand Care Packages and Enrichment Programs to Meet Children's Basic Needs:
   

   CWLF's survey shows that many rural children experience shortages of nutritious meals, struggle with school-related expenses, and lack properly fitting clothing during school breaks. At the same time, limited access to meaningful activities often leaves children spending long hours on digital devices or without structured engagement.

   To address these challenges, CWLF has operated its Children in Rural Areas Services since 2009, working alongside schools in rural communities across Taiwan. This year marks the 17th year of the School Break Nutrition and Enrichment Program. During this summer break, CWLF will distribute 1,998 care packages to families experiencing hardship, helping meet children's nutritional and daily living needs. In addition, CWLF will support 99 rural schools in organizing more than 100 summer camps, providing learning opportunities, support from adults, and positive peer interaction for more than 3,000 rural children.

   CWLF calls on the public to continue supporting these efforts to strengthen the network of care available to children during school breaks, ensuring that no child has to face hunger or loneliness alone.

2. Launch an Online Safety Guide to Equip Parents and Educators With Digital Safety Skills
   

   Social media use is widespread among elementary school children, with children in rural areas spending more time online. This may expose them to risks such as inappropriate content, privacy breaches, and contact from strangers. Yet many parents remain unaware that most major social media platforms have a minimum age requirement of 13, potentially contributing to widespread social media use among younger children.

   To help families and schools respond to these challenges, CWLF has developed the free online Online Safety Guide, a practical educational resource designed for both parenting education and classroom instruction. The curriculum helps parents and educators better understand the most common online risks children face while providing guidance on setting appropriate boundaries, building healthy digital habits, and strengthening children's online safety.

   Download the Online Safety Guide: https://user323342.pse.is/9a23k6

3. Strengthen Children's Digital Rights and Privacy Protection Through Legislative Reform
   

   As children face increasingly complex digital risks, including algorithm-driven content, online grooming, and privacy breaches, family guidance and school-based education must go hand in hand with stronger legal protections and greater platform accountability.

   CWLF therefore urges the government to amend the Child and Juvenile Welfare and Rights Protection Act by adding a dedicated chapter on Children's Rights to Communication and Privacy Protection, drawing on international regulatory frameworks, including the UK's Online Safety Act and the EU's Digital Services Act.

   The proposed amendments should require online platforms to conduct child risk assessments, establish reporting mechanisms, implement Safety by Design principles, and strengthen safeguards for children's personal data. CWLF also calls for the introduction of cross-sector Child Rights Impact Assessments and accessible complaint and rapid response mechanisms to ensure timely intervention when children are exposed to harm. Together, these measures would create a stronger legal framework for protecting children's rights and digital safety in an increasingly connected world.

◼ Read more:
Digital Parenting: Understanding Challenges and Practicing Mindful Communication During Summer Break
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CWLF Survey: Children's Life Satisfaction in Taiwan Drops to 69 out of 100, Down from Last Year