NST Leader: Screen time, or scream time?

New Straits Times

2 days ago

THE personal computer and Internet booms of the 1990s transformed daily life, encouraging children to pick up new digital skills — from operating systems to basic coding that streamlined tasks.
Many parents believed this digital exposure was educational — some even dreamed of raising the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.
And for a while, it worked. Children of that era remained level-headed, balancing screen time with outdoor play and real-world interaction.
But the arrival of smartphones and tablets changed everything, leading to deeper — and often troubling — digital immersion. Children as young as 16 months became glued to gadgets, obsessing about social media influencers or whatever caught their fancy.
Gadgets and social media became the centre of their world — everything else, from school to meals, came second. Nothing else mattered.
Today, most parents aren't dreaming of tech titans in the making. Instead, many are scrambling to help their children grow up with balance — especially after witnessing obsessive, cult-like dependence on screens.
It's too late. Children often retaliate by screaming, sobbing or even threatening self-harm — behaviour resembling withdrawal or fanaticism — when denied gadgets or online access.
Momentum shifted after studies linked excessive social media use to depression, anxiety and sleep disorders in children.
Worse still, children are increasingly exposed to cyberbullying, grooming and online predators. Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union, China, South Korea and Australia have introduced tighter regulations.
These include age verification, parental consent, privacy safeguards, gaming curfews and cyberbullying prevention. Essentially, parents are mandated to control their children's social media interaction.
Malaysia is also taking steps, proposing that parents be legally required to monitor children's digital habits as a means of preventing online exploitation.
Clearly, parents struggle in a societal pressure cooker: it's tough enough to monitor their children on practically everything while managing their careers.
Still, the threat of legal repercussions, while necessary, has its challenges and criticisms. Age verification needs sensitive personal information that invades data privacy and security. Besides, tech-savvy children can easily bypass restrictions.
Such measures, the critics' argument goes, limit children's freedom of expression and access to information. Still, the urgent mission here is to strike a balance between protection and embracement of social media's positive aspects of connection, learning and creativity.
Ultimately, safeguarding children online will require a united effort — a balance of strong regulation, industry responsibility and active parental involvement.