To Get Rid Of Smartphone Addiction, This City Lets Students Raise Chicks

According to SCMP, officials in Bandung city, which is 150km away from Jakarta, are deploying a project called “Chickenisation” to help children combat smartphone addiction by letting them raise chicks.

Accordingly, 2,000 4-day-old chicks were given to children at primary and secondary schools around the city. The students’ mission is to feed these chicks before and after schooltime. Students can keep these chicks at their home or at schools if there is no backyard in their houses.

The city mayor, Oded Muhammad Danial stated that besides helping children get rid of smartphone addiction, this project is a part of the national plan to expand the education for children initiated by President Joko Widodo.

The Global Digital Report 2019 suggested that internet users in Indonesia spend an average time of 8 hours 36 minutes per day to use the Internet. This figure is almost two times higher than the global average. Users under the age of 10 have the same smartphone time, even surpassing that of adults.

Reportedly, on November 21, more than a dozen chicks locked up in the cages with the sign “please take good care of us” were given to students. SCMP reported that this “Chickenisation” project was scheduled to be implemented last month; however, officials of Bandung city needed time to discuss with chicken farms around the city.

After Bandung city piloted this raising chicks program, a lot of parents supported the idea. A parent called Yayah Ratnasari said that she hoped this project could encourage her son to be interested in animal husbandry and poultry farming in the future.

While Yayah thinks that raising chicks is more beneficial than using the smartphone all day, her son, Rabil, doesn’t agree with that. According to him, using a smartphone is still much more interesting.