At Jakarta Belajaraya Forum, Digital Minister Emphasises Importance of Children's Readiness for the Digital Era

The rapid pace of digitalisation demands mental and character readiness among Indonesian children.

In this regard, Minister of Communication and Digital (Menkomdigi) Meutya Hafid spotlighted the importance of guidance over simply prohibiting internet access for children.

She emphasised this directly during the Public Chat 3 session titled ‘Children in the Social Media Era: Creating a Child-Friendly Digital Space’ on the stage of the Belajaraya Jakarta education festival.

The discussion explained that the digital space is not entirely dangerous, as it also opens up limitless learning opportunities on the other hand. However, Meutya underlined the importance of active roles from all parties to create a safe digital ecosystem that provides protection for children.

“The goal is not to restrict, but to ensure children are ready before being exposed to the digital world,” stressed Meutya Hafid at the forum, quoted on Wednesday, 6 May 2026.

This active role begins, among others, from home. Linking to the government’s perspective, the family’s active role becomes the first foundation for child protection.

Also present in the same session were public figure Nikita Willy and representative from Keluarga Kita, Siti Nur Andini.

From a mother’s perspective, Nikita Willy agreed that the best protection starts with parenting patterns that prioritise dialogue. “Parents need to build open communication so that children feel heard, accepted, and comfortable discussing,” said Nikita.

Children’s readiness in the digital era was discussed more sharply in the Public Chat 4 session titled ‘Dare to Ask, Dare to Tell: Sharpening Critical Thinking Amid the Flow of Information’.

This session, featuring Founder of the Quraish Shihab Al-Qur’an Study Centre Quraish Shihab, Journalist and Founder of Narasi Najwa Shihab, as well as Animator and Film Director Ryan Adriandhy, highlighted the urgency of the ability to filter facts amid the onslaught of information flow.

Quraish Shihab emphasised the importance of getting into the habit of sifting information from an early age. Society must be able to distinguish which information is important and beneficial, which is mere jokes, to those that are lies or nonsense.

“The most important knowledge is that which makes you a better person,” stated Quraish Shihab.