Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs highlights rising risks to children entering digital space at younger ages

Jakarta — Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs has highlighted the rising risks to children as the trend of children entering the digital space at increasingly younger ages continues.

Mediodecci Lustarini, Secretary of the Directorate General of Digital Space Supervision at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, stated that every half second, one child globally connects to the internet. This condition increases the potential exposure to various risks in the digital space.

“The trend is that children are entering the digital space earlier and earlier. This is not only happening in Indonesia, but globally,” Mediodecci said during a discussion held by the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) titled “Stakeholder Synergy in Child Protection in the Digital Space” at Teater Wahyu Sihombing, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, on Friday.

She explained that children have different developmental characteristics compared to adults. At a young age, children are still developing cognitive and emotional capabilities, and are not yet able to filter complex information.

Excessive exposure to digital content, according to her, can trigger a surge of dopamine in children’s brains. Meanwhile, the ability to regulate impulses and determine usage boundaries has not yet fully developed.

“Children do not yet have the ability to regulate when they should stop. That is what makes them vulnerable,” she said.

Mediodecci also mentioned various global studies linking the intensity of device usage to increased anxiety among young people. One widely discussed phenomenon is the “anxious generation” popularised by American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.

According to her, the risks include exposure to age-inappropriate content, disruptions to emotional development, and dependency on digital devices.

She emphasised that this situation forms the basis for the need for child protection policies in the digital space, so that access to technology continues to provide benefits without compromising children’s growth and development.