The influence of socio economic parent on using digital media in early childhood

Abstract

Technological advancements entering the industrial era 4.0 bring changes to all aspects of human life including children especially in their use of social digital media. This study aims to examine the effect of parents’ education level and economic level on their children’s use of digital media in early childhood. In this quantitative research, an online questionnaire bundle Surveillance of Digital Media habits in Early Childhood Questionnare (SMALLQ) was employed to measure the digital literacy of parents with younger children. This study involved 100 parents with an average age of 33.04 years, height 157.02 cm, and weight 56.41 kg. Their children consisted of 63 boys and 37 girls with an average age of 4.65 years, height 101.90 cm, and weight 17.06 kg. The results showed that the average use of digital media was still high, exceeding the guidelines of the WHO which recommends the use of digital media only one hour per day. This study also showed that the level of parents’ education had an effect on the use of gadgets, while the economic level of the parents had no effect on the usage of gadgets on the children. These results suggest that technology literacy is needed by parents in order to be able to regulate their children use of digital media.