Pune-based psychiatrists see a sharp rise in mobile phone addiction among children, is it time to turn off the gadget?

De-addiction experts and child counsellors in the city have observed developmental delays, speech delay, and falling grades in school among older children who spend excessive time on cell phones

The tendency of children who are obsessed with mobile phones, to become violent and threaten to inflict injury on themselves or others is on the rise, say psychiatrists.

Psychiatrists, de-addiction experts and child counsellors in the city have pointed out cases of mobile addiction among children as small as three to four years. (HT/PHOTO)

Psychiatrists, de-addiction experts and child counsellors in the city have pointed out cases of mobile addiction among children as small as three to four years. They have observed developmental delays, speech delay, and falling grades in school among older children who spend excessive time on cell phones.

In an incident on January 1, a 13-year-old who had frequent arguments with his parents over his obsession with the mobile phone, committed suicide in Pune after his parents took away his mobile.

Dr Bhooshan Shukla, child and adolescent psychiatrist, said, “There is a rise of 100 per cent in cases of mobile addiction among children, as compared to five years ago. It is an outbreak in the literal sense. Five years ago we hardly saw a case of such a nature but now almost every day we are seeing one case of mobile addiction. Parents come to us when the issue gets critical and the children fail to listen to them.”

“Complaints of children hitting parents, threatening to commit suicide, indulging in self-harm among others if they are not given the phone are more common nowadays,” he added.

Dr Shukla said such behaviour is seen in children anywhere between two years to teenagers.

Blaming parents for this, he said, it is often parents who give their smartphones to children to keep them engaged and soon, the screen time increases gradually before the parents realise that there is a problem. “The mobile starts acting as the new babysitter,” he said.

Dr Shukla cautioned parents against the belief that their children will become smarter or tech-savvy by spending hours on mobile phones. Instead, they will developmental and psychological issues like dependency, stress, anxiety and developmental issues.

“In broader terms, we are going to have a less productive generation in the future. So to avoid this menace, we need to start educating the parents. Awareness among parents and elders is the only key to help the children,” he said.

Child psychologist Puja Modi reported similar trends, especially among children below the age of 10. “We have seen parents come to us with development issues; speech delay or linguistic issues. A child should be speaking by the age of 2.5 and 3 years, but when that does not happen by the age of 4, parents worry and seek treatment,” she said.

Modi said that some children were found to spend up to six to eight hours on the phone and were virtually cut off from the real world.

“There is a major misconception among parents that certain apps like ABCD or English will make the child intelligent but it is not so. So daily communication with the child, outdoor games, quality time with parents will help the child and make him less inactive, less dependent and lower his stress levels and also improve his grades in schools,” she said.

Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, director of Childline 1098, a helpline service for children, said, many children have confessed to being addicted to smartphones during Childline’s school outreach events. She said that some even confessed to watching porn on phones which were not observed five years ago.

She said that parents seemed to have “replaced their parenthood with gadgets” putting their children to great risk from online predators.

“We have come across many girls and boys who have shared that they were asked to send their nude selfies to people they spoke to online and now the same strangers were blackmailing them. In such cases, we have seen children suffering from mental trauma,” she said.

Mukta Puntambekar, director of Muktangan De-addiction centre said, “The centre receives at least two calls daily from stressed parents complaining of their child being addicted to smartphones. Also, parents shared stories of children throwing tantrums and refusing to eat till he was handed over the phone with certain apps or a video. Most of such complaints were from the middle-income group.”

Mobile addiction on a rise among children

Psychiatrists, de-addiction experts and child counsellors here have reported cases of mobile addiction among children as small as three to four years

Side effects

Experts have observed developmental delays, speech delay, and falling grades in school among older children who spend excessive time on cell phones.

Suicidal behaviour

A 13-year-old boy from Dhankawadi, committed suicide on Tuesday by hanging himself from the ceiling fan. The reason being his parents asked him to stop playing on the smartphone and study as his exams were approaching. The boy, who was reportedly addicted to a game named GTA-Vice City was playing the same before committing suicide

Extreme behaviours when denied mobile phones

Threaten to kill self

Threaten to kill others

Physically hit parents, especially mothers

Indulge in self-harm like cutting or hurting oneself

Threaten to jump from the balcony

How parents can help?

Experts point out that awareness among parents is the key to the problem. Daily communication with the child, outdoor games, quality time with parents will help the child use the mobile for less time and lower dependency and lower his stress levels and improve grades in schools.

Doctors say

There is a sharp rise in cases of mobile addiction among children which is 100 per cent as compared to five years ago. It is an outbreak in the literal sense. Complaints of children hitting parents, threatening to commit suicide, indulge in self-harm, and others if they are not given the phone are more common nowadays.

-Dr Bhooshan Shukla, child and adolescent psychiatrist

Many children have confessed to being addicted to smartphones during Childline’s school outreach events. Some even confessed to watching porn on phones which were not observed five years ago.

-Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, director of Childline 1098

The centre receives at least two calls daily from stressed parents complaining of their child being addicted to smart phones. Parents shared stories of children throwing tantrums and refusing to eat till he was handed over the phone with certain apps or a video.

-Mukta Puntambekar, director of Muktangan de-addiction centre