The Other Side Of Online Games For Children

JAKARTA - According to data research, AI calls Indonesia the third-largest online game market in the world. Meanwhile, if you look at the number of online game downloads in Indonesia, there were 3.45 billion downloads.

From this figure also illustrates that one child has more than one online game. This proves that many children in Indonesia are already in the category of online game addiction.

This is reinforced by BPS data in 2023 which records children aged 0-18 years dominate the online game market with a percentage of 46.2 percent. The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) sees that online game addiction can cause problems in children, ranging from an academic perspective, physical to mental health.

To overcome this problem, Kominfo provides education to the public through the Obral Oblique of Digital Literacy (OOTD) webinar entitled 'Other Sides of Online Games for Children' on Friday 7 June.

Behind the bad side, online games are actually one of the opening opportunities for jobs in today's digital era. Not only players, the people behind the scenes from the game also benefit from the existence of this online game.

According to Kornet, a professional online game player who talks about webinars, on the other hand, the existence of online games in the digital era today can create jobs.

"On the other hand, online games also create jobs, not only for players who can be pro players, the people behind them are like editors, the support team can also get jobs from online games," said Kornet.

However, access to online games to children must of course be under parental supervision. This is done to avoid children being exposed to negative things from online games.

"Parents must ensure the ratio of children's play. If children want to play games, it's a good idea to give them because children also have the right to play. But we must be able to ensure that the ratio of children playing games to life in the real world is balanced," continued Oviani Fathul Jannah, Project Manager Down to Zero.

In this digital era, online games are like two blades, which means they can be very useful if used properly, but can also be detrimental if their use is critical. Therefore, parents must also be wise in providing access to online games to their children so that they do not cause addiction that can harm their own children.