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colleague says he loves his iPad, not only because it helps him with his work, but also because his young children can spend hours having fun with this educational tool.

Ever since he has bought the smart tablet, the first thing his kids ask him as soon as he comes home is whether they can play with it (in the name of fairness, I should mention the argument applies to other brands out there in the market).

When asked if it might be too early to let kids play with such a high-tech instrument, this colleague says this easy-to-carry instrument offers unlimited games and educational apps in such a user-friendly way that it stimulates their creativity.  

The real reason, which he won’t admit to, is that he has found the iPad to be a perfect cure for his attention-deficit disorder syndrome (ADDS). Never mind the educational and entertainment aspects, and never mind the impact these will have on children. Kids love daddy more than ever because of it.

The bigger question is whether the arrival of the smart tablet, along with other information and communication technology (ICT) products and services, is really good for children, especially in the critical years they are still developing their personalities.

Many parents are understandably concerned about the impact the Internet — and all the content and information that comes with it — has on their children. Many ban their kids from using the Internet all together for as long as they can, while others impose strict controls on when and how long children can remain online.

Others, like this colleague in the office, are quite liberal, seeing the importance of kids growing accustomed to computers from an early age.

The Internet is not quite value-free, and certainly has a major impact on the way children grow up today, probably in ways their parents have never experienced before. But isn’t this the same arguments our parents made when they thought that too much TV was bad for us? Today, some parents are also saying that too much Internet is not good for their kids.

While the downsides of ICT on children’s character formation are well known — potential exposure to unfiltered information and anti-social behavior — the upsides are not as well recognized or understood. They need to be spelled out as we try to determine whether the Internet, and smart tablets, are good or bad for children’s upbringing.

As a writer by profession, I personally welcome the return of the art of writing the Internet has brought about for children. Although it comes fully equipped with audio-visual capability, Internet-based social media compels users to do some amount of
writing. Whether it is a 140-character Twitter, a message in a chat room, Facebook or a blog, you have to write.

The wider the audience you are aiming for, the more careful you will be when putting things in writing. You are putting your
reputation on the line when you disseminate information to the public through social media.
Critical thinking is stimulated, whether in small or large measure, through writing.

The Internet, in Indonesia and in countries where freedom of speech is guaranteed, has also encouraged the young generation to be far more expressive than their elders, who grew up when speech and even thoughts were rigidly controlled by the state.

Indonesia today has one of the highest number of Facebook and Twitter users in the world, thanks to 3G technology, which enables people to access the Internet cheaply through mobile phones.

Young people of all economic backgrounds are now actively participating in debates taking place in the public arena. They may encounter some limitations at school or at home, and they may feel mainstream media has ignored them, but they have found freedom and their voice on the Web.

Unlike their parents, young Indonesians are far more opinionated. Whether or not they are informed opinions is irrelevant here. But through interactions, opinions are formed and re-formed in the market place of ideas far more rapidly than where information does not flow as freely.

The Internet also allows young Indonesians to learn about people in other parts of the vast country as well as in other parts of the world, a privilege that in the past was reserved to wealthy kids. The 17th century English clergyman Thomas Fuller once said that “travel makes a wise man better and a fool worse”. Surely this applies to virtual travel now afforded to most everyone by the Internet.  

The Internet allows you to learn not only about people of different cultures and backgrounds, but also provides you with the opportunity to interact with them. Many people acquire values like tolerance and respect of others this way.

Those who approach issues with an open-mind will even find this intellectual stimulation leads to further discovery, not only about the world, but often about themselves and their place in the world.

The Internet — or the smart tablet or other gadgets used today — is only one of many sources influencing children’s character formation. Children also acquire the values that form their characters in later life from other places, like school, the environment they grow up in, and probably most important of all, at home from their parents.

There is no way of telling whether the iPad is good or bad for your children’s character formation, for ultimately it depends on parental supervision. But one thing for sure is that iPad is no substitute for good parenting. Bed time stories are still best told by mom or dad, even if with the help of a smart tablet.

The writer is senior editor at The Jakarta Post and fellow at the East West Center in Washington. He participated in a recent discussion on character-building education organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Washington.