SHOULD THE CHILDREN PROHIBITED TO USE GADGETS AT EARLY AGE?

INTRODUCTION

Human is social creature who is interact and communicate with another human. With era
and technology development, human create system and tool which can facilitate human
when they communicate with human fellows. The advance of telecommunication such as
telephone, radio, and television had made a change in individual or community. Most media
sources related to children make them to become passive user, but with the advance of
technology nowadays enable children to interact actively with technical device available and
children are adapted faster with that. However, the information communication and
technology (ICT) which is increasingly developed bring negative effect in gadget usage if it is
used excessively. The phenomena shows that each individual has familiar and use gadget
with sophisticated feature and application which attract its users.

According to Child Development expert, Lencana Mastura (Dr.), that addiction to iPad, tablet
and another devices usage is so widespread among children and it is the main challenge
faced by parents to educate their children and concern them in globalization era. The life of
preschool children in modern era is very influenced by electronic media. Dallea, Mutalibb,
Saadb, Ayubc, Wahabc, and Nasrallad said that as the effect of electronic media, children
have less space to participate in real world. Based on some studies, children aged 0-2 years
old should not exposed to gadget, children aged 3-5 years old are limited only 1 hour per
day, and 2 hours per day for children aged 6-18 years old. But the fact in field shows that
many children who use gadget 4- 5 times more than the amount recommended. What are
the side effects? When is the right time to introduce children to the digital world? I believe
that children should not prohibited the use of gadgets at early age for various reasons and
factors.

BODY

First. children who excessively use smartphone gadgets will cause obesity. This is supported
by the results of research showing pre-school age children with high intensity of gadget use
have a 2.1 times greater chance of being obese compared to preschoolers with low gadget
usage. The World Health Organization (WHO) also states that one of the factors that causes
child obesity is increased sedentary behavior (behavior is not much movement or lack of
physical activity). Taking a tablet or smartphone all the time, a child cannot control the
normal food intake. Either they eat too quickly or too much since they are concentrated on
the screen, not on the meal.

As we know, physical activity held regularly can be beneficial to strengthen the heart, blood
vessels and body and brain systems that are fitter. Physical damage such as eye pain is also a
threat to early childhood. The high level of eye activity on the smartphone screen will
damage the function of the eye, the eyes become tired and uncomfortable. Dr. D.A.N Canara
Sari, SP. M quoted by Eva Erviana also added that using a gadget for a long time and close
range could cause eye minus.

Second, speech delay is one of the causes of developmental disorder in child language.
Speech delay is caused by excessive use of gadgets. When a child uses a gadget such as a
smartphone, the child will focus on looking at the screen and not making social contact
whereas contact and social communication are needed by children to develop their
language skills and speech.

The study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco explained
that Birken, a pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children Canada found a connection to the
use of gadgets in the ability to speak to children. Birken (2011-2015) conducted observation
and question and answer to parents who have children aged 2-24 months regarding the
duration of time given to children to watch through the gadget screen, 20% of the children
studied used a gadget for at least 28 minutes every day. The result they found every
additional 30 minutes of time used to play gadgets can increase the risk of late speaking up
to 49%. The results of another study of 714 children aged 24-60 months in Tambakrejo,
Surabaya also proved a significant relationship between children's speaking ability and
gadget use in children.

Social disability. The research results show that most children have the habit of playing
gadgets more than 1 hour each day experiencing degradation of social development.
Children with high gadget activity will become apathetic to the environment, the level of
aggression will also increase. Added, in an article by Dr. Gary Small, director of the longevity
center at the University of California says that if children spend much time on technology
and less time with people, it hinders interaction and disrupts the normal communication
skills development on children.

Further arguments against this position paper is that early childhood who have the activity
of staring at screen-based media and gadgets such as smartphones and tablets to play
games longer and increase in duration every day are signs of addiction. This addiction occurs
due to things or things that make children happy which will stimulate the brain to produce
dopamine excessively. According to (Medical University of Vienna 2016) serious health
problems can arise if too little or too much dopamine is being produced. If too few
dopamine molecules are released, Parkinson's disease can develop, while an excess can lead
to mania, hallucinations and schizophrenia. Excessive amounts of dopamine will disrupt the
workings of the hypothalamus, the part of which is responsible for regulating emotions and
moods that make us feel very happy and over-confident.

For the final analysis, according to the report of the (World Health Organization, 2014)
cellphone and other wireless devices are considered category risk because of their radiation
emission. In December 2013, Dr Anthony Miller from The University of Toronto’s School of
Public Health revealed that radio frequency exposure is clearly a threat to children.
CONCLUSION

To sum up, children should prohibit the use of gadgets at early age because it has more
negative factors than positive. The negative factors might break up the cheerful and
productive life of one`s child. Going out to the flow of modernity of life are still need
limitations and control after all. Parents must have to supervise, monitor, and control
children using gadgets responsibly and appropriately. Choosing the right gadget for the
children can reduce the risk of too much exposure in the digital world.