Youths losing way in tech maze

A few months ago, 13-year-old Rahul Singh's behaviour started worrying his mother. He spent his entire day either texting his friends from his mobile phone or just using Facebook aimlessly. He even slept with his phone and almost stopped interacting with his family members. "He stopped taking interest in sports, which he used to love. When we tried taking his phone away, he did not react well and tried to get it back from us in every way possible. At first it was irritating, but as his interactions with us kept reducing, we suspected that something was wrong," she says.

Rahul is one of the many in his generation suffering from technology addiction, which includes excessive internet use, gaming and social networking. Although not classified as a mental disorder, experts agree that it definitely poses a very real problem. Internet addiction finds mention in the 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) authored by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as something that needs to be researched further.

In a paper published in the APA journal, Jerald J. Block lists four components that characterise this kind of addiction:
Excessive use of the internet leading to a loss of sense of timeProblems like anger, tension and depression on withdrawal from technologyAn uncontrollable urge to buy better equipment or increase the hours of usageNegative side effects like getting into arguments, social isolation and fatigue Ajay Shetty, who scored 93 percent in his SSC exams a few years back, is now struggling to clear his second year engineering exams. The decline in his performance began in the first year of junior college itself and continued with his HSC exams as the time spent chatting with friends on his mobile phone or social networking websites kept increasing. His parents assumed it was just a passing phase and were not too worried initially. The situation became alarming when, after getting admission into an engineering college through a paid seat, Shetty failed in three subjects. The addiction escalated to a stage where he broke the television set in the house and his father's laptop on different occasions because he was denied access to the internet.

"He found it difficult to wake up and go to college and did not care much about it. Although he knew he was making a mistake, he just could not stay away from his phone or the computer," says Shubha Thatte, a clinical psychologist who treated Ajay.

To combat this increasingly frequent problem among children, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) has set up the first of its kind technology de-addiction clinic in Bangalore. According to Manoj Sharma, associate professor of psychology at the institute, it started to treat patients who suffered from technology addiction as people still have a stigma about visiting mental hospitals. "We were able to determine the tangible effects of addiction among students like deteriorating academic grades, decrease in other leisure activities and spending less time with family," he says.
He adds that the heavy usage of technology, a job requirement for some people, is not harmful at all. The problem stems when this usage begins to affect and gradually replace other daily activities or social interactions.

Shubhangi Parkar, dean of the psychiatry department at KEM Hospital, has come across teenagers who would enter a cyber café when it opened and stay there the entire day. "They almost completely stopped interacting with their family members to the extent that one of them did not even attend his mother's serious operation."
While behavioural and impulse control addictions related to eating, gambling and the like are not unheard of, technology addiction is a fairly recent phenomenon. "As the proliferation of mobile phones and expansion of social media continues, children come in contact with technology a lot sooner than their previous generations. As use gradually turns into overuse, addiction creeps in," says K. Thennarasu, a biostatistician who is part of NIMHANS.
Parkar concurs with this view. "Their age makes them more vulnerable than adults as their decision making abilities are not as developed. Mobile phones, internet, etc. begin as a novelty seeking experience and gradually become an addiction."

Despite the warning signs, India remains relatively unscathed from the menace of technology addiction. Unlike South Korea, where internet addiction is considered a serious public health issue after several cardiopulmonary related deaths and murders because of internet and computer games. According to data collected in 2006, the South Korean government estimated that around 210,000 people were afflicted with addiction problems and more than 20 percent of these children needed hospitalisation. Cultural and technological differences notwithstanding, initial signs indicate that India could be headed the same way.

According to a study in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry, five percent of youth in India in the 18-25 age group are addicted to social networking sites while 24 percent use the internet more than required. Similarly, research conducted by Thatte in Thane and Mulund showed that 60 percent of students from Class 9-12 in the area spent more than three hours on their mobile, computer or television. "These mediums always appear more attractive to students who are already overburdened with academic work," she says.

Apart from the impact on social and academic life, technology addiction has adverse psychological implications too. "There is documented impact on the self-image of a person based on how they perceive themselves on social networking websites with regard to friendships, dating and other cyber-relationships. All such aspects if not managed timely can have significant short term and long term impact on the well-being of an individual," says Pallavi Tomar, a clinical psychologist in south Mumbai.

Lata Shenava, an emotional intelligence certified therapist, trainer and life-coach, refers to a Mumbai boy who cut his wrist after his grandmother caught him watching porn. Fortunately, he survived because the cut was made hastily. Shenava blames parents for the rise of such problems. "There is too much compensation culture among parents today. Since they cannot spend enough time with their children, they expose them to different kinds of media and electronic devices at a young age. It is necessary to give children freedom but parents must first ascertain whether their children are ready to handle the freedom appropriately."

She subscribes to a different view on how to tackle the problem, preferring to put the onus on parents and teachers rather than clinics, workshops and the whole shebang.

"People can develop this problem irrespective of age. While this problem in isolation will not have major physical consequences, it is often the cause of more serious disorders like obesity, hypertension and insomnia," says Thatte.
As with other kinds of addictions, therapy is used to control technology addiction too. "It provides step-by-step ways to manage compulsive Internet behaviours and change perceptions regarding internet, mobile phones and computer use. There is also an attempt made to understand if excessive use of technology is related to some other underlying psychological disorder that can be managed," adds Tomar.

While therapy is a curative measure, parents must play a crucial role in not just supplementing the treatment but also preventing such a problem from arising in the first place. "Parents need to stop being friends with their children all the time. Children must realise that they cannot get everything they want. The whole concept of being afraid of your parents has many advantages and must be followed," says Shenava.

According to Thatte, parenting must become smarter in this digital age. "It is ridiculous to keep children away from mobiles or computers completely. Instead, parents must devise ways to be part of their child's interaction with technology. It will not only help them supervise their usage, but also enable them to introduce to children the innumerable advantages that technology offers," she says.

The education system must also recognise the influx of these technology mediums among students and attempt a healthy collaboration which benefits students. As Allen Francis, Chairman of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV task force says in an article in The Huffington Post, South Korea dealt with this problem through education, research and intelligent public policy.

After just a few counselling sessions, Rahul is now relatively less anxious without his mobile phone and has resumed other activities. His truncated communication with his family members is also gradually increasing. His mother strongly emphasises the need for evolved parenting to cure and prevent such disorders. "This generation cannot be expected to spend as much time with their parents as we used to. Thus we must take greater initiative from our end and try to spend as much time with them as possible," she says.

(Names of patients have been changed in order to maintain confidentiality)