UNAIR NEWS – The current pandemic has limited children’s exploration space. Moreover, the school system is carried out from home. It increases the use of gadgets in children. Although some children do school online with laptops, one of the psychologists from Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Dr. Dewi Retno Suminar, M.Si., Psychologist, said that this activity still allows children to surf in cyberspace, which in turn can arouse greater curiosity about everything.
“When children have thirst for news, movies, and other internet facilities via gadgets and self-control cannot stop, it can cause disturbances characterized by anxiety and sleeplessness,” she explained.
The child psychologist explained that gadget addiction can cause several psychological problems such as the inhibition of children’s interactions with other people, loneliness felt by children when their gadgets are off or not at hand, and irritability and panic when they miss the news.
“Even children can also be stressed when they find out that there are friends of their age posting more things than themselves on social media and that can cause them to experience FoMo (Fear of Missing Out) disorders,” she added.
Regarding the use of gadgets in children, the psychologist born in Pacitan said that we cannot blame the gadgets. However, the 53-year-old lecturer emphasized that what needs to be considered is the control over the use of gadgets. For that, she revealed some tips to control the use of gadgets in children.
The first tip, the psychologist said that there must be control and time limits in using gadgets.
“An agreement can be made on how many hours children are allowed to play with gadgets. If he uses gadgets more than half of the time outside his bedtime, then activities that do not involve gadgets must be carried out, ” she explained.
Regarding activities that can distract children from gadgets, Dr. Retno said that several activities, such as traditional games, light exercise, cleaning the house and arranging the room, as well as helping with cooking and gardening could be one solution.
“These non-gadget activities can indirectly develop children’s social interactions,” she added.
Finally, the lecturer in the Playful Psychology course also reminded parents that parents must also provide examples of good use and portion of gadget usage.
“Limit the time to play gadgets, prevent children from activities that involve gadgets, give punishment when children violate the time limit agreement to use gadgets, and give rewards when children are able to comply,” she concluded. (*)
Author: Nikmatus Sholikhah
Editor: Feri Fenoria
