Sylvia wants sex education via phone

P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sylvia Kurniawati Ngonde is part of the small minority that do not own a cell phone. But, her natural curiosity led her to question the popularity of the device among teenagers.

Barely half-an-hour passed without a ring-tone penetrating the air, the recipient gazing at their tiny screen, and the earnest patter of fingers as the message was returned.

"Even though I don't own any cell phone, this didn't stop me from studying its role in our lives," she said.

Her research uncovered that over 25 percent of teenagers exchange sexual commentary or even pornographic images via their cell phones.

Sexual Communication Behavior Among Teenagers Through Short Message Service (SMS) and the Multimedia Message Service (MMS) is the title of the research paper she presented as a finalist of the Young Researcher's Award 2003, held by Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) on Dec. 18.

Born in Surabaya 33 years ago, Sylvia had studied to be an anthropologist, but despite her chosen field, she ended up working as a lecturer and a researcher with the faculty of psychology at the Catholic University, Widya Mandala in Surabaya.

After obtaining her bachelor degree in anthropology in 1993, at Airlangga University in Surabaya, she went on to complete a masters degree in the same subject, from the University of Indonesia, in Jakarta in 1998.

As a lecturer in multicultural psychology and environmental psychology, Sylvia faced great challenges in adapting from her previous study to that of the science of psychology. But as she told The Jakarta Post, on the sidelines of the Young Researcher's Awards here, "Unraveling a problem is my passion".

Although Sylvia's team did not win an award, she said she was appreciative of the opportunity to present her research to such "highly competent people in their fields."

Along with the rapid progression in technology, many cell phone producers have supported their products with technology that enables people to send and receive texts and pictures through short-message-service (SMS) and multi-media-service (MMS).

With a maximum capacity of 50 kilo bytes, anyone can send texts, pictures, even sounds through their cell phone, unlimited by space and time.

Cheap, real time information exchanges have made SMS and MMS a favorite means of communication among teenagers.

According to Sylvia, part of this popularity is tied to teenager's curiosity about sex, considering the hormonal leaps they are experiencing.

Sylvia also notes that teenagers have the tendency to satisfy their curiosity, and that this often plunges them into unsafe sex, which they are not physically or psychologically prepared for.

She regrets that many parents do not keep up with this technology.

"They should at least know how to send SMS's or MMS's and (understand) what they are all about. If not, they cannot guide their children to use the technology properly."

She added that parents should also provide proper information about sex to their children, so that they would not gather information from inappropriate sources.

Speaking about the use of cell phones as an information tool, Sylvia said that "We must provide them with the proper and right information about sex, not just naked pictures or the exchange of indecent messages which it seems is prevalent."

Through her research, Sylvia arrived at an alternative way to provide teenagers with accurate information on sex via media, like cell phones.

She first noticed the trend to send sexual messages via cell phones, in Indonesia, in 2002.

According to Sylvia, the good news is that the widespread use of cellular phones illustrates technological progress. But this technology can also pose a threat, if is used to convey information that is inaccurate or even dangerous.

"We already have the concept and the materials for sex education for teenagers, and now we plan to offer this concept to telecommunication provider companies," said Sylvia.

Through this collaboration with provider companies, teenagers can access a program through their cell phones, which provides them with appropriate information on sex.

Sylvia is now preparing two working papers on productivity among urban people and the effect of cell phone technology on mental health.

Both of these papers will be presented at the ninth National Congress of the Association of Indonesian Psychologists in Surabaya on Jan. 15.

Other scientific studies she has worked on concerning teenagers are Empowering the Role of Parents in the Reproductive Health of Teenagers in East Java, and Communication Patterns With SMS and MMS as a Trend in the Conduct of Modern Teenagers, which was presented at the eighth European Congress of Psychology in Vienna.