Xiaomi India ex-CEO cautions on kids' early exposure to smartphones

Xiaomi India ex-CEO Manu Kumar Jain, on LinkedIn, quoted a study on the age group 18-24-year-olds, the first generation to have used smartphones in adolescence.

Former chief executive officer of Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain, warned against the early exposure of smartphones to kids, citing a threat to their mental well-being.

A boy entertaining himself with a smartphone amid a power outage in Mohali on Tuesday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Taking to social media platform LinkedIn, Jain quoted a study on the age group 18-24-year-olds, the first generation to have used smartphones in adolescence. Citing the report, the tech entrepreneur highlighted the correlation between early access to smartphones and the likelihood of suffering from mental disorders as adults.

The study published last week by ‘Sapien Labs’, a Washington DC-based organisation, emphasised that among women, who received their first smartphone at the age of 6, 74% experienced mental health challenges. Those who did so at the age of 18, their percentage decreased to 46%.Similarly, the data said 42% of men experienced mental health challenges if they had their first smartphones at age 6, but for those who received their first smartphone at the age of 18, the percentage further decreased to 36%.

In his post, Jain urged the parents to resist the temptation of giving phones to their children to keep them occupied. While some people agreed with the observations and even spoke about how the pandemic-induced lockdown had further exacerbated the situation; a section of the people criticised Jain’s ‘hypocritical’ stance.

People maintained that the Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi has dominated the Indian smartphone market since 2014 because of its affordability but neither the company nor Jain in his position as the CEO for India never made significant efforts to flag such risks.

“For years you sell and advertise smartphones and now show this analytics. Change of heart, how hypocritical,” a user said.

“This is not the new thing that came to your mind after leaving Xiaomi. Anyways it would be very interesting to read your opinion on the edtech start-up as well who are providing tablets to their Nursery to K12 students,” another user commented.

Similar sentiments were expressed by others who highlighted the inevitable rapid merger of education with technology but said that not enough was being done to protect the interest of young consumers or ensure their well being in the wake of the drastic increase in their daily screen time.