A Study on the Perception of Preliminary Early Childhood Teachers on Young Children’s Addiction to Media and its Alternatives

This study aims to investigate preliminary early childhood teachers’ recognition of children’s addiction to media and alternative solutions. The research subjects were 33 students (preliminary early childhood teachers) in an early childhood education institute. The data collected were coded according to the content from group interview sessions and classified by concepts and topics. The results suggest that parents’ inappropriate childrearing was mostly held responsible for children’s addiction to media, which is harmful for their physical development and has not been given necessary attention by society. Secondly, the participants suggested social support, namely that parents can get education and treatment services about incorrect child-rearing attitudes. Therefore, to prevent children’s media addiction and to make better educational use of media, early childhood education institutions, counseling centers, and local social service centers have to provide guidebooks on appropriate media education, instructions for parenting, or training opportunities for improving the parent-child relationship, which young children and parents should easily be able to benefit from. Also, experts need to carry out a detailed plan for this process.