Keyword: childhood studies

ABSTRACT: This study explores how the spectacle of social media and online games shapes children's lived experiences of school life and interpersonal relationships, particularly within the Indonesian cultural framework of Tri Sentra Pendidikan—family, school, and society. Anchored in a qualitative phenomenological approach grounded in Husserlian tradition, the research aims to uncover how digital behaviours are embedded in systems of imitation, symbolic power, and meaning-making. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 21 adult informants (nine parents, nine teachers, and three principals) from three elementary schools in Yogyakarta, selected purposively for their daily proximity to children. Using epoché, reduction, imaginative variation, and synthesis, the analysis reveals that digital platforms are often perceived by children as more trustworthy than familial or school authorities. Findings highlight three key dynamics: (1) the normalisation of aggression and spectacle in digital spaces, (2) the displacement of educational authority by algorithmic content, and (3) children's shifting moral orientation shaped more by screen-based narratives than by institutional guidance. Rather than offering definitive solutions, this paper foregrounds the voices around the child—listening closely to their meanings of safety, humour, and resistance—and situates them within broader discourses of power, identity, and character education in a spectacle-saturated world.