For the past few months, city paediatricians have been observing ill effects of social networking on children and asking parents to keep an eye on their children’s internet activities.
A 15-year-old girl recently became friends with an unknown person claiming to be 18 years old on social networking website Facebook. After chatting with him for a few days, she decided to meet him at Dadar station. She was shocked to see that the person she had been chatting with for more than a month was a 44-year-old widower. Once home, she remained confined in her room, depressed.
Hers is not an isolated case. For the past few months, city paediatricians have been observing ill effects of social networking on children and asking parents to keep an eye on their children’s internet activities.
Child psychiatrist Dr Fabian Almeida said: “We have seen an increasing number of children addicted to Facebook and other social networking sites. Some of these children are as young as eight or nine. Parents need to be cautious, as kids may be subjected to bullying, harassment, ‘sexting’, etc in the virtual world. Some children studying in Stds IX to XII are getting into relationships and go through depression because of break-ups.”
The American Academy of Paediatrics has recently issued new guidelines, urging doctors to advise parents to get involved in their children’s activities on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.
“The problem arises when parents do not pick up the symptoms. But we can’t blame them, as children are generally thought to be prone to get addicted only to drugs or alcohol. It is true that in recent times we have found addiction to social networking websites as the main factor responsible for increased behavioural problems and breakdown of communication between parents and children,” said Dr Shubhangi Parker, head of psychiatric department, KEM hospital.
According to doctors, cyber bullying and harassment can lead to depression, anxiety, severe isolation and even suicide. Facebook depression is a relatively new phenomenon, wherein signs of depression are seen in young adults who spend a great deal of time on social media sites. Rash judgements on the internet can jeopardise future jobs and college admissions. Over 50% adolescents log on to a social media website at least once a day and nearly 25% teens do so 10 or more times each day.
According to psychiatrists, internet addiction is a mental health problem. It is a kind of impulse control disorder. “These days, children who are seven or eight years old are also getting hooked on to the internet. But they are not addicted to online games, as was the case a year or two ago,” said Dr Seema Hingorani, senior psychiatric.
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