Don't shield students from devices, but teach them purposeful usage: Minister

Singapore does not take a binary view of device usage, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, even as Australia passed a law in late 2024 to ban social media for children aged under 16.

- Elisha Tushara

This approach of not banning devices is more challenging, but more practical at the same time, he said.

A local research effort in child development, called Growing Up In Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes, showed detrimental cognitive impacts when children are exposed to screen time before the age of two.

In an interview with The Straits Times, Mr Chan said the study showed that unsupervised consumption of videos for more than two hours could result in a drop in IQ by the time a child turns seven years old.

For teenagers, he said the greatest concerns are video-gaming and how social media can affect self-worth and lead to incessant comparisons with others.

Despite such potential dangers, students should not be prevented from using devices, but be taught how to use them purposefully, he said.

"It's a bit like discovering fire... Fire can be both good and bad. If you don't know how to use it, you burn down everything. Use it properly, and you can use it to cook and generate electricity," Mr Chan said, adding that people should not be shielded from devices and end up not knowing how to use them.