Psychoeducation of Digital Parenting for Parents of Kemala Bhayangkari Playgroup and Kindergarten

Psychoeducation of Digital Parenting for Parents of Kemala Bhayangkari Playgroup and Kindergarten

Nurul Tri Handayani¹, Fidari Fitrianingtyas², Fifti Imroatur Rosyidah³

University Muhammadiyah Malang, JL. Raya Tlogomas No.246, Malang 65141, Indonesia ^1,2,3

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7012053

Received: 29 November 2023; Accepted: 04 December 2023; Published: 02 January 2024

ABSTRACT

The use of gadget nowadays is increasingly attached to everyday life, including in early childhood. Gadgets have a positive impact such as helping children develop their creativity and thinking skills. However, parents need to assist their children’s use of gadget in order to prevent from some negative impacts like an obstacle in their psychosocial development in particular. This digital parenting psychoeducation aims to give some information to parents about the limits of using gadget for children, the negative and positive impacts of using gadgets. We also offer some strategies about how to manage screen time in order to prevent gadget addiction. The method we used is carried out small group discussion and video education. We choose Bhayangkari Kindergarten which took place in Singosari, East Java. This psychoeducation was attended by 50 mothers of Bhayangkari’s student. The results shows that there is a significant influence on parents’ comprehension of digital parenting after participating in this activities. However, we acknowledge our limitation in this program. The various programs of digital parenting like story telling and games are strongly very recommended if it is possible for the next similar programs.

Keywords: digital parenting, gadget, early childhood

INTRODUCTION

The rapid development of technology nowadays can cause changes in every aspect of everyday life . It changes the way we think, behave and respond everything happened around us. As technology bring ease to everyday life, we become more attached and depended on the use of it. For example, the use of gadgets like smartphone, tablet, and laptop. We can now do so many things through our gadgets, not only communication but also accessing information worldwide, shopping, looking for some entertaining stuff and for educational purpose. The use of gadgets causes changes in our lifestyle, the way we think and communicate (Livingstone, 2015). We also can install various application which makes the device is more useful. In addition, another advantage of gadgets is it easy to be carried anytime. That makes us more depended to it.

Gadgets can now be used literally by everyone, not specifically for some certain groups. Children under five years now have also been taught to use it. There are so many features which can help stimulate children’s development. For example, they can learn about colors, shapes, words, animals, etc. However the long-term use of gadgets can also cause some health and psycho social problem.

According to UNICEF, there were 12.7% children experiencing developmental problem, and 14.2% having emotional disorders in 2020 (Setyarini et al., 2023). The long terms of screen time makes them tend to be lacking of social interaction and emotional regulation (Zain et al., 2022). In addition, it can also cause them to be lazy, weak and prone to experiencing health problem. These negative impacts of screen time can be minimalized through appropriate use especially in early childhood. Relate to the matters, we offer a psycho educational program for parents to share knowledge and help them arranging some strategies to keep their children discipline in order to minimalize the impact of screen time.

Our program is designed for parents who have children under five years old. This period, also known as golden age, has its distinctive developmental characteristic compared to the later stage. The objectives of this program is to help parents maintain a proper strategy regarding the use of gadget for their children and how it can benefit them while minimalizing the negative effect of too much screen time.

Theoretical Concept

Early childhood are children who are in the age range of 0 months (newborn) to six years.This period is also called the golden age. In this period of children experiencing physical and psychological development that is very unique when compared to development at a later stage. Physically children begin to develop motor skills such as grasping, crawling, walking, jumping, running and so on. Early childhood also experiences rapid cognitive development. According to the results of neurological studies, the cognitive development of 4-year-olds reaches 50%, increases to 80% at the age of 8 years and reaches 100% at the age of 18 years (Sit, 2015).

Early childhood goes through several periods, namely 1) sensitive period, 2) egocentric period, 3) imitation period, 4) group period, 5) exploration period, and 6) defiance period (Tadjuddin, 2014). Characteristics of early childhood include: high curiosity, active and exploratory. This period is also a time of formation of poscative behavior, therefore, early childhood needs stimulation that can support their psycho social development. There are many media that can be used to stimulate a child’s psycho social development. One of them is to use a device (gadget).

Gadgets are electronic instruments or devices such as smartphones, laptops, or portable computers that have the function of helping human work (Hijriyani &; Astuti, 2020). In early childhood, devices can be used as a medium of learning and entertainment. Applications and features installed on devices can be used as a medium to stimulate creativity and hone early childhood cognitive. However, giving devices in early childhood can also have a considerable negative impact, such as disruption to eye health, children become lazy to move and socialize, tend to like to be alone, content that is not appropriate for children to consume has a bad impact on children’s behavior, and children become aggressive due to dependent behavior or gadget addiction.

Method

Psycho education in this case helps the audience to  acquire  knowledge about parenting patterns through digital parenting structured programs in the classroom. This activity includes presentation of material using power point, video playback and discussion sessions. Participants in this psycho education are parents of Kemala Bhayangkari kindergarten’s students totaling 50 people.

Digital parenting is a parenting strategy related to the rules for using electronic devices both online and offline by implementing regulations and assistance to protect children’s safety from the threat of their use. What parents must do for children in digital  parenting is  to improve and update insights about the internet and devices (Stevanus &; Anindyta, 2022). Although the use of devices has several benefits for children, parents need to be aware of the possibility of children’s dependence on devices that will hinder their psychosocial development and the impact of negative content that is inappropriate for consumption by children. So that with “digital parenting” the monitoring of parents and the children’s environment can be directed to positive things and minimize negative impacts (Putri, 2018).

Parents should consider how much time is allowed for early childhood to play gadgets, because the total length of time used can affect a child’s development. The use of devices in early childhood should be limited by parents, that a child should only be in front of a screen < 1 hour every day. The use of devices is categorized as high intensity if you use  a device with a duration of more than 75-120 minutes per day. The  use of devices  with a duration of 5- 30 minutes is a normal duration of  use   , but if you use  the device many times (more than  3 uses) it will cause addiction. Furthermore, the use  of devices with moderate duration when using devices with a duration of more than 40-60 minutes per day and a maximum usage intensity of 2 times.

The duration of device and internet use recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric (2016) is as follows:

Table 1 – Age of Duration of Device Use

In general, according to Sahriana (in Asmawati, 2022), the use of devices has the following positive impacts:

(1) increasing knowledge, (2) expanding friendship networks, (3) facilitating communication, and (4) training children’s creativity. In addition, theuse of devices also has a negative impact, including: (1) disrupting health, (2) interfering with child development, (3) prone to crime, and (4) affecting children’s behavior. By considering the negative impact of devices, the role of the elderly is very important. There are several ways that parents can do, including: (1) choosing features on the device that are appropriate for the child’s age; (2) accompany the child during the use of the device; (3) limit the time the child can use the device; (4) avoid device addiction in children by providing rules; and (5) help children adjust to the environment and the times.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Result

Based on the results of the pre-test and post-test that have been carried out before and after psychoeducation, the following is a summary of the results of the hypothesis test analyzed using paired sample t-test in the SPSS application.

Tabel 2. Summary of hypothesis test

Based on the hypothesis test (paired sample t-test), the average value (digital parenting knowledge) pre-test was 8.24. As for the post-test score, the average value (digital parenting knowledge) is 8.72, the probability value or sig. (2-tailed)=0.000 then p<0.05, p<0.01. So there is a significant difference in digital parenting knowledge based on pre-test and post-test data, which means “there is a very significant influence of digital parenting psychoeducation on increasing digital parenting knowledge in parents of students in Kemala Bhayangkari Kindergarten / KB”.

Pre-test and Post-test Graphic

There is significant differences between pre-test and post-test scores shown from the graphic above. In addition, based on observations during the psychoeducation process ,

According to one of our participant, she did not permit her for her 4-year-old to use gadget child because she was worried about the negative effects, but after attending this digital parenting psycho education she began to understand that using gadget have a positive impact and need to be introduced to children. The overall results of statistical data analysis and observation/ interviews showed an increase in parents’ understanding of digital parenting in family planning and Kemala Bhayangkari Kindergarten.

Discussion

The psycho education activity with the theme of digital parenting which was held in Kemala Bhayangkari Kindergarten on July 22, 2023, was attended by 50 parent, mostly mothers. This activity is designed as group discussion and video playback. The activity was done about 2

hours. This psychoeducation also aim to help parents maintain an appropriate parenting strategy especially in the digital era. We began with the introduction of our activity, and what will be we discussing in the next section. Then we asked them to do the pre-test before we begin the discussion. At the end of our discussion we asked them to do the post-test.

The result of the implementation of psycho education as previously explained is that there is an increase in parents’ understanding of the use of gadget in early childhood. Overall the psycho education was went well, even though it became a little bit unconducive because of the children were running around the class. However, we get a positive respond from our audience who participate in this psycho education activity. This is in line with the community service activities carried out by Qadafi and Sosani (2023) in the form of digital parenting education education for teachers and parents of PAUD students in the City Mataram. This service uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach with a training concept for four sessions filled by experts in the fields of parenting, psychology, and technology. The results of the participant satisfaction survey on this service activity showed positive results. Participants feel that this activity is very suitable for current parenting needs.

An educational program on the implementation of digital parenting classes in the golden age conducted by Eka and Budi (2020) showed the results that digital parenting classes with the theme of preventing gadget addiction in the golden age shows the significant result of PAS Baitul Qur-an Ponorogo Inclusion Kindergarten parent’s comprehension. There were four materials presented, which are educating children based on Islamic perspectives, data on the number of children who experience gadget addiction, the characteristics of gadget addiction, the negative impact of screen time, and how to prevent gadget addiction especially in the golden age period (Eka & Budi, 2020).

Digital literacy has become an inseparable part of the lives of teachers and parents today because most children are very familiar with the digital world. If parents are not able to keep up with children in managing digital devices, then forever parents will not be able to control what children do in cyberspace and problems sooner or later will definitely befall the child like many cases we find today.

The results of the discussion conducted at the end of the session with parents (participants) regarding digital parenting during direct activities, are as follows :

1. A real case found by parents as a result of lack of parental supervision when children use devices is that children watch content that contains negative information such as LGBT and
2. In addition to applying restrictions on the duration of device use, parents also provide substitutions in the form of activities or other activities to children. This activity can be in the form of traditional games such as dakon, bekel, unloading or involving children inhousehold activities such as washing dishes and

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Conclusion

Our psychoeducation program’s aim to help parents maintain an appropriate strategy for children regarding the use of gadget or screen time. The activities was done in Kemala Bhayangkara kindergarten showed a significant differences regarding parents comprehension of screen time for their children. All participants felt that this activity was very suitable for parents need especially in the digital era like today, so the information obtained from the speakers was very relevant to their daily experiences, both at home and school.

Recommendation

Psychoeducation about digital parenting is very necessary to be hold especially for parents and teachers, because the massive technological development might effecting children’s behavior and cognition. The various programs of digital parenting like story telling and games are strongly very recommended if it is possible. Our limitation may include the restrictiveness of time, because we were given only two hours by the school committee.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher would like to thanks the lecturer who taught the psychoeducation course, the principal and the kindergarten Kemala Bhayangkari teachers, and all participants who have enthusiastically participated in this psychoeducation activity.

REFERENCES

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