Is your child leading a virtual life?

Eight-year-old Naveen Chhaya (name changed) skips his classes, does not meet friends, lies to his parents and even misses his daily bath, all so that he can make time to play his favourite online game or chat on social networking sites.

Psychologist Dr Shubhangi Parker, head of the psychiatric department, KEM hospital says that like Naveen, many youngsters in the city are getting addicted to the internet.

“In the last few months, I have had to deal with three such cases every month. This was not the case earlier. Life, for these youngsters, begins and ends at the computer station,” said Parker.

According to psychiatrists, internet addiction is a mental health problem. It is a kind of impulse control disorder. “These days children in age group of seven to eight years too are getting hooked to internet. But unlike a year or two back, children are hooked to online chatting on social networking sites instead of playing online games,” said Dr Seema Hingorani, psychologist.

Supporting the city psychiatrists’ claims, a recent survey conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) showed that internet addiction is on the rise in metros, with Mumbai having the most number of children online for hours followed by Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

“The patients spend over 10 hours online. They fight with parents over their use of the internet. They start living a virtual life and have little contact with the real world. They are awake till 1am or 2am playing games or chatting,” added Parker.

According to the city psychiatrists’, five years back, they hardly got one case in a year. “I have just dealt with a boy who is eight-and-a-half years old. He found solace in online chatting with strangers as his parents kept fighting and scolding him. He also confessed of stealing his father’s laptop in the middle of the night and chatting on Facebook with strangers as that gave him peace of mind. We are getting many children with attention deficit hyper activity disorder too along with internet addiction. Parents realise it only when the child is not doing well academically,” said Hingorani.

The survey showed that about 52% of children aged between eight and 11 years spent over five hours daily online, chatting and playing games. In the same age group, 30% spent between one and five hours a day on the internet while 18% said they didn’t surf daily.

The usage was higher among 12- to 15-year-olds, 58% of who fell into the ‘excessive use’ category. Only 10% of these children didn’t surf daily; 32% spent up to five hours a day on the internet.

Among 16- to 18-year-olds, only 4% didn’t go online daily. While 56% spent more than five hours, 40% were online for less than five hours. Boys reported excessive internet browsing compared to girls, and all the older children used the internet mostly for social networking, chatting and to help them with school work.

“It is not just the internet. Kids want to be on their BlackBerrys 24x7. Every 10 minutes, they update status messages, click and upload pictures and create virtual IDs. It is frightening to see youngsters wake up at midnight to water plants on Farmville or update their status messages when they are supposed to sleep and wake up early for studies,” said Parker.