Report: 'staying in' is China college students' favorite summer pastime

A summer getaway has long been popular among Chinese college students, who rarely have the opportunity to get away during their busy school years. Summer may be the students' best time to enjoy balmy breezes and sunshine, but a newly released report suggests that fewer students are taking advantage of this option. More than half the nation's college students said they prefer to spend their summer holiday at home rather than on the road. In fact, some said they rarely go out at all.

This first-of-its-kind report collected data from more than 500 universities, located in cities ranging from first-tier to third-tier. A total of 3,000 university students took the survey. The report reveals that more than 56 percent of college students had no plans or were undecided about their plans for summer break. Inadequate funds and a lack of interesting activities were cited as reasons for this trend, along with a fascination with online activities and mobile phones; together, these reasons accounted for why half the students surveyed chose not to do any outdoor activities during the summer holiday. Nearly 48 percent of the respondents spent at least five hours a day surfing the Internet. Social networking, watching videos and listening to music were the three most time-consuming activities.

Zhu Haoliang, a psychologist and associate professor at Wenzhou University, said that as more and more young people become sedentary, it will lead to a series of physiological and health problems. What's more, due to a lack of face-to-face communication, the generation is putting itself at higher risk for developing social phobias.