Touch phones are no more a luxury item. They have, in fact, graduated to becoming a silencing tool. It is not rare to see a parent thrusting a phone in the hands of his/her child to keep him occupied and less meddlesome. The child is always more than happy to trade his 'intrusive' behaviour for a phone. While the child's affliction for the phone was once a moment of wonder for parents and guests who admired the sight, today it is more of a sore. Doctors and psychologists say that addiction to the mobile phone not only affects a child's tactile growth but also his overall personality.

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Dr Sagar Mundada, a psychologist with Health Spring, Mumbai has been treating children with such an addiction for a long time now. He adds that while the phone fixation phone is not limited to any particular age, for those as small as 3-5 years, the addiction is faster. Dr Mundada gave us an account of two of his patients.

Mumbai-based Nikit, who is only 4, has been on 'psychotherapy sessions' for phone addiction. "The child's obsession for watching cartoons for long hours has led to a drastic change in his behaviour. His conduct towards people was ruled by the cartoons he watched."

Rishabh, only 7, was referred to Dr Munanda by his school counselor. Rishab's interest in studies was on the slide and he was particularly inattentive in class. The school checked on him and after much nudging found out that the boy missed his father's mobile phone; hence he distanced himself from others in school. During outdoor visits, Rishab had begun to talk to strangers so that he could use their smartphone. "He was willing to take the risk and talk to strangers," Dr Sagar, added.

Dr Arvind Goregaonkar, head of the Orthopedic department in Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, Sion, said that phone addiction also means that there is a tendency for the child to become a loner and his social habits taking a beating, "not to forget health issues such as muscle trouble, eye problems that also crop up."

The phone also eats into the child's sleeping time and if given a chance, sleep is sacrificed for a game on the cell phone. "This creates sleeping and other health issues for a child," Dr Goregaonkar surmised. At KEM Hospital's Ophthalmologist department, at least 2-3 of its new and daily patients are children.

(Names of children changed)

RESTORING THEIR CHILDHOOD

It is imperative that parents & school admins to take concrete steps to ensure that children as young as 3 years are not becoming ‘addicts’

CONNECTING CHILDREN WITH REAL-LIFE PEOPLE

  • With an aim to make parents and children realise that device is harmful to their development, Tejaswi Uthapp, a Bengaluru resident started an initiative ‘Time Out from Plugins’ for lay people.   
  • The initiative was started in June after the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report on online gaming and named it as a ‘gaming disorder’, a mental health condition.  
  • As a pilot concept, the members of ‘Time Out From Plugins’ have decided that on every Saturday from 7 pm to 9 pm they will keep all the plugin devices (mobile phone, tablet) in one corner and start a conversation with people around them for two hours.

TEST DRIVE EXAMPLE OF KIDS WRITING TEST

  • DNA asked two children to write and type the same sentence. This was to check whether the phone was indeed their first love. Anish, 10, started writing two paragraphs from a textbook on the touchscreen smartphone. He read every word carefully and typed it on the phone. He took seven minutes. The same paragraph, he took five minutes to write in a notebook. “I use the phone only to play games. I rarely type messages. I don’t have any friend’s numbers on the phone.”  
  • Chitrangi, 6, when told to write a paragraph in a notebook, took ten minutes. To write the same paragraph on the phone, she took 14 minutes. Her aunt said that Chitrangi uses the mobile to watch videos and doesn’t really write anything  
  • Verdict — the phone serves for entertainment purpose only

BMC AND THE INTERNET

  • Last year, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) school students from Class 8 to 10 were found to be watching movies on the tablet provided to them by the Education Department. This year, the department ensured that the tablets are kept in the schools and not taken home.  
  • An Education officer at the BMC said, “We have provided new tabs to Class 9 students from which one cannot remove the memory card. It only contains educational content in it.”  
  • Around 50,000 students of Class 8 to 10 are provided tablets to study by BMC schools this year.