Kudus IDI supports social media restrictions for child health development

The use of social media for children is indeed concerning, as they are vulnerable to becoming victims of scamming or fraud, as well as targets of sexual predators. Kudus (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) of Kudus Regency, Central Java, supports restrictions on social media access for children under 16 years old, to ensure that child growth and development can proceed normally without delays. “Currently, in the era of information technology, many children are exposed to gadgets, which impacts their development, from speech delays to overall developmental delays,” said the Chairman of the Medical Ethics Honour Council of the Indonesian Medical Association (MKEK IDI), Ahmad Syaifuddin, when asked for his response regarding the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) Number 17 of 2025 on the Governance of Electronic System Organisers in Child Protection in Kudus on Sunday. Due to gadgets, he said, many children also experience concentration disorders, which affect their academic development at school. To prevent these negative impacts, the implementation of restrictions on social media account ownership for children under 16 years old is appropriate. The most important thing, he said, is for parents to also support the regulation, so that age markups do not occur to allow children to create social media accounts. He hopes that with the strict implementation of social media account ownership restrictions, children can grow normally and avoid health problems from concentration disorders to speech delays due to being too preoccupied with the virtual world. Based on information received among doctors in IDI, he said, many patients waiting for turns at several hospitals are undergoing speech therapy as a negative impact of gadget or device use on children. According to him, the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) Number 17 of 2025 should be welcomed enthusiastically, as the problem of gadget exposure to children can be minimised. He hopes that local governments will also respond by taking further steps regarding the implementation of the regulation. The Head of the Communication and Informatics Office (Diskominfo) of Kudus Regency, Satria Agus Himawan, acknowledged that they are still awaiting technical guidelines from the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) regarding the policy. “Even if they are already available, we are ready to help with socialisation to the public, to prepare a better future for children,” he said.