Giving Gadgets to Children: A Good Decision or a Disaster?

 

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In this modern era, gadgets cannot be separated from human life, starting with adults, teenagers, and even children already have their own gadgets. Gadgets themselves do have many positive impacts, but besides having a positive impact, gadgets also have a negative impact, especially on children. Gadgets have many features that can be accessed, and the existence of many of these features will be an entry point for children to access anything that could be inappropriate for their age. While these children have not been able to distinguish between good and bad like adults, this can affect their development. According to research, the use of gadgets by children can affect their speaking ability, character, quality of learning, and even cause depression.

Children's speaking ability is related to their verbal ability to communicate with other humans. When compared to children who are not given gadgets, children who are given gadgets will spend more time in front of the gadget screen, resulting in less time interacting with other people. This will reduce the child's ability to speak; hence, they will only be able to string together one or two words.

The use of gadgets by children can kill their character. Children who initially have good manners and are obedient to their parents will become disobedient and abusive. This can all happen when children watch videos on YouTube where people use harsh and bad language or when playing online games where people usually like to use harsh language and curse when they lose. These kinds of things can kill character in children, and this can all happen because parents give gadgets to children and do not accompany them.

Children who use gadgets and are not controlled by parents will experience addiction so that their time to play with friends, interact with others, and the quality of learning is reduced. These children will usually feel that it is better if they spend their time playing with gadgets, even though they need interaction with others to increase their knowledge.

The scariest impact of giving gadgets to children is depression. When children have started to feel addicted to playing gadgets, when one day they are not allowed to play gadgets, they will feel anxious, angry, and also restless. Another example is when children are usually given money to buy data packages, but suddenly their parents don't give them money, even for a day. They will get angry and throw tantrums. This is what usually triggers children's depression and can lead to the murder of parents.

Based on the explanation above, it is clear that gadgets have many negative impacts on children. These impacts include decreased speaking ability, negative character development, decreased learning quality, and the risk of depression.