PP Tunas Becomes Parents' Shield in Protecting Children from the Virtual World

Expert on Child and Adolescent Development from Gadjah Mada University, Novi Poespita Candra, said that PP TUNAS can be a shield for parents to keep their children safe from the dangers of excessive use of social media.

"This policy can be a gateway to collective awareness of the dangers of excessive digital use in children if they cannot manage it," said Novi Poespita Candra when contacted by Antara in Jakarta, Sunday.

According to him, the restriction policy is indeed necessary, but it is not enough if it only focuses on the aspect of prohibition.

According to him, efforts to reduce the risk of gadget addiction must actually be strengthened from within the child through education and digital literacy.

Therefore, children who are familiar with their gadgets in their daily lives need to be equipped with the ability to understand and manage the use of technology wisely.

"The policy is an external factor. It should be to reduce the risk of addiction by building internal factors with self-awareness through education, or what is often called digital literacy," he said.

This refers to the policies implemented in developed countries. Not only at home, regulations are also applied in schools that provide literacy understanding so that they are wise in using their gadgets.

"In some other countries, in addition to banning the use of gadgets at a young age, in schools they build awareness of how to use digital wisely," he said.

"Likewise, schools are building a learning ecosystem where children strengthen all their senses from seeing directly, hearing, touching, and also interacting directly with humans, as well as reading books before they know gadgets at the age of 13," he added.

In fact, the regulation made by the government is not to prohibit them from accessing the digital world.

PP Tunas which was inaugurated on March 28, 2026, actually protects children from the dangers of social media.

In the rules made, PP Tunas limits children from high-risk digital platforms, especially for the initial implementation, which applies to eight digital platforms, namely YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Instagram, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox.