A small city in Indonesia, Bandung, is launching a pilot program hoping to get kids off their tablets, phones and televisions. They are accomplishing this by giving them baby chickens and Chili seeds in hope that kids will spend more time with nature and less time on the internet. 

The Bandung government said they will be giving ten elementary schools and two junior high schools 2,000 baby chickens and 1,500 chili seeds. 

Local mayor Oded M. Danial said he hopes this will help get children off their devices and gadgets.

But why do this? Well, recent studies done by The Global Digital Report 2019, show that the average Indonesian person spends eight hours and thirty-six minutes online a day. That’s more that two hours over the global average. 

“It’s good to increase the discipline of the children. Caring for trees is better than playing with cell phones.” Says a local parent.

Many children have different plans for their chicken. One child says he can’t wait to breed chicken when he is older while another one says he can’t wait till his chicken gets big enough to eat. 

But Indonesia isn’t the only country that faces this growing problem. In the United States, children’s average screen time has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

Maybe it’s time the US considers something like Chicken-ization.