Theopilus Yansen, Al Mahmud Abdullah, Davis Hilary, Octavia Johanna Renny
Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Centre for Ergonomics, Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia.
JMIR Pediatr Parent. 2024 Apr 26;7:e55364. doi: 10.2196/55364.
Internet addiction is an emerging mental health issue in this digital age. Nowadays, children start using the internet in early childhood, thus making them vulnerable to addictive use. Previous studies have reported that the risk of internet addiction tends to be higher in lower-income regions with lower quality of life, such as Indonesia. Indonesia has high risks and prevalence of internet addiction, including in children. Digital interventions have been developed as an option to combat internet addiction in children. However, little is known about what parents and therapists in Indonesia perceive about these types of interventions.
This study aims to investigate the experiences, perceptions, and considerations of parents and therapists regarding digital interventions for combating internet addiction in young Indonesian children.
This study used a qualitative exploratory approach through semistructured interviews. We involved 22 parents of children aged 7 to 11 years and 6 experienced internet addiction therapists for children. The interview data were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis.
Participants in this study recognized 3 existing digital interventions to combat internet addiction: Google Family Link, YouTube Kids, and Apple parental control. They perceived that digital interventions could be beneficial in continuously promoting healthy digital behavior in children and supporting parents in supervision. However, the existing interventions were not highly used due to limitations such as the apps' functionality and usability, parental capability, parent-child relationships, cultural incompatibility, and data privacy.
The findings suggest that digital interventions should focus not only on restricting and monitoring screen time but also on suggesting substitutive activities for children, developing children's competencies to combat addictive behavior, improving digital literacy in children and parents, and supporting parental decision-making to promote healthy digital behavior in their children. Suggestions for future digital interventions are provided, such as making the existing features more usable and relatable, investigating gamification features to enhance parental motivation and capability in managing their children's internet use, providing tailored or personalized content to suit users' characteristics, and considering the provision of training and information about the use of interventions and privacy agreements.
在这个数字时代，网络成瘾是一个新出现的心理健康问题。如今，儿童在幼儿期就开始使用互联网，这使他们容易沉迷其中。先前的研究报告称，在生活质量较低的低收入地区，如印度尼西亚，网络成瘾的风险往往更高。印度尼西亚网络成瘾的风险和患病率都很高，儿童群体也不例外。数字干预措施已被开发出来，作为解决儿童网络成瘾问题的一种选择。然而，对于印度尼西亚的家长和治疗师对这类干预措施的看法，我们却知之甚少。
本研究旨在调查印度尼西亚幼儿家长和治疗师对于对抗网络成瘾的数字干预措施的体验、看法和考量。
本研究采用定性探索性方法，通过半结构化访谈进行。我们纳入了22名7至11岁儿童的家长以及6名经验丰富的儿童网络成瘾治疗师。访谈数据经转录后，采用主题分析法进行分析。
本研究的参与者认可3种现有的对抗网络成瘾的数字干预措施：谷歌家庭链接、YouTube儿童版和苹果家长控制。他们认为数字干预措施有助于持续促进儿童健康的数字行为，并在监督方面为家长提供支持。然而，由于应用程序的功能和可用性、家长能力、亲子关系、文化不兼容性以及数据隐私等限制，现有的干预措施并未得到广泛使用。
研究结果表明，数字干预措施不仅应专注于限制和监控屏幕使用时间，还应注重为儿童推荐替代活动、培养儿童对抗成瘾行为的能力、提高儿童和家长的数字素养，以及支持家长做出促进孩子健康数字行为的决策。本文还为未来的数字干预措施提供了建议，比如提高现有功能的可用性和相关性、研究游戏化功能以增强家长管理孩子上网的动力和能力、提供适合用户特点的定制或个性化内容，以及考虑提供关于干预措施使用和隐私协议的培训与信息。
