PETALING JAYA: Despite more children using the Internet, the use of parental controls has gone down, a survey by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has found.
13 Jul 2021 / 08:40 H. Pix for representational purpose only.
KUALA LUMPUR: A worrying “side effect” of the ongoing movement control is the growing addiction to smart devices among children and adolescents.
Although there is a lack of data as no studies have been carried out on this issue in Malaysia, psychiatrists are seeing more cases of young patients who are hooked on gadgets such as smartphones, tablets and computers and manifesting signs of Internet gaming addiction (IGA) or Internet gaming disorder, and anxiety disorder comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD).
According to International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) consultant psychiatrist Associate Prof Dr Nora Mat Zin, one of the knock-on effects of staying indoors due to the Covid-19 pandemic and enforcement of movement control since March last year has been the “massive increase in the use of gadgets and screen time among children”.