It is a common sight nowadays to find children so engrossed in mobile phones that they lose sense of space and time. It feels as if they have been transformed into a altogether different world, which is far away from the reality. Small kids, as young as three- to four-year-olds can be seen hooked to the mobile phones, while their parents are busy shopping or engaging in a gossip with their friends. Parents found a way to distract their children, while they could engage in their work or do carefree shopping. Mobile phones have become an intrinsic part of life for children. They cannot imagine life beyond this gadget and it has become their major source of happiness.

 

Playing online games, watching reels, posting content or just scrolling aimlessly have become a second nature to this generation and the culprit are the parents themselves. Covid-19 made it necessary to engage in online content, as physical modes were not possible due to lockdown. The trend continues post the lockdown as the necessity has now become addiction for children. Schools have made WhatsApp groups for classes and are continuously posting messages to ensure regular flow of information to students, which has become an alibi for children to being online in the garb of school work.

 

While the uses of online content in terms of plethora of knowledge available about people, places and education is well known, the downside is that it is leading to mental issues in children, who have made it a source of primary knowledge, replacing text books, It has now become an addiction for the children, whose symptoms can be found even in small kids, who start throwing tantrums, once the smartphone is taken from them. Mood swings, restlessness and sleeplessness are common mental issues found in most of the children, which can aggravate with time. In teenagers, use of smartphones has led to serious consequences, as they have become obsessed with social media and its content. To impress online friends, they post content and photos which may sometimes lead to misuse and cyber-bully. Low self-esteem, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), self-harm are some of the mental issues found in teenagers addicted to phones.

 

Online games such as Roblox have become a craze and has become online playground for teenagers, who get so much hooked to the game that some of them need to be hospitalized for addiction. In this age, where joint family system has already broken down and small family is the norm, the relations have become far and fetched. We are at once more connected and disconnected than ever. Children have lost the sense of relationship and shy from meeting and talking in person. They make online friends easily but refrain talking to those present physically. They rely on virtual friendship, which is a misnomer and fragile. Loneliness have crept in and to find an answer, this generation rely on ChatGPT instead of counsellors, which is making things more complicated.

 

We should remember “The more we connect to the virtual world, the more we disconnect from the people around us.” In this age of instant gratification, the young generation has moved away from reality. They lack the ability to handle pressure, lack perseverance and commitment and look for shortcuts to perform their tasks. Some of them find themselves in harmful spaces, like groups promoting body shaming, hate content or self-harm and even drawn to viral challenges that normalise risky behaviour for the sakes of likes and views. The answer to the problem lies in putting a system in place before it is too late. Parents need to fix a time-limit for children to watch online content, which should be supervised. Parents should set an example for children by limiting their screen-times themselves. Schools should promote old practises, of writing messages in diaries and avoiding online groups for posting such messages. Parents should also encourage children to pick up a hobby or outdoor game, which will help them to develop their skills and reduce screen time. The answer lies in taming the bully before it gets aggressive. To quote “It is okay to own a technology; what is not okay is to be owned by technology.” (The author is in teaching profession)