The impact of digital era: Intensity of excessive use of gadget causing eating difficulty on children

Abstract

This study aims at testing whether the use of gadget excessively has a correlation to eating difficulty of children. This research used cross-sectional study design with Chi-square testing involving 215 mothers of children aged 6–12 years who were selected by using stratified random sampling in State Primary School 08 of Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, Indonesia. This study used Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire and gadget use intensity questionnaire. This study revealed that there was a significant relationship between intensity of using gadget and eating difficulty behavior on school-aged children (P-value = 0.009). Children using gadget in a high intensity have an opportunity of 2.145 times bigger of causing eating difficulty than a low intensity (OR = 2.145; 95% CI = 1.239–18.357). These findings suggest that parents have to pay an active attention to their children's growth and development by applying a good eating pattern and limitation of using gadget.