Many parents today despair at the amount of time their kids spend glued to mobile phone devices. In 2017, Frontiers in Psychiatry published ‘An Update Overview on Brain Imaging Studies of Internet Gaming Disorder’ as part of their research on IGD or Internet Gaming Disorder. The conclusion was startling: “There is emerging evidence that IGD is associated with similar brain mechanisms responsible for substance use disorders. The brain imaging studies in IGD show similarity in brain mechanisms between IGD and substance use disorder and therefore support the classification of IGD as a behavioural addiction.”
In simple words, screen addiction is an addiction. Its impact on the brain is similar to substance use addiction. In short, there may be an irreversible long term impact on the brains of children addicted to Internet games. However the question arises if only internet games are to be blamed or the problem is broader. It was the research of Joel Billieux who provided clear pathways into problematic mobile phone usage. Billieux further broke down cyber addiction into online gambling, online video games, social networks and mobile phones, thereby defining a spectrum of cyber addictions.
In short, excessive phone usage is going to do you and your children harm. A logical question therefore is how many hours a day is classified as addiction. A few researchers came up with a limit of 20 hours a week. But, this is hotly contested and WHO has refrained from providing hour-based classification of mobile addiction. Spending time on the mobile phone comes at the expense of normal life commitments. An often cited example is that a student has an exam or an assignment but skipped it because he or she was unable to keep the mobile phone away.
And what we may be passing off as a lifestyle aberration may be the symptom of a larger disorder taking shape. 70 per cent of India’s population has smart-phones. To begin with, is it being identified as a problem? The bugle was sounded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Pariksha Pe Charcha wherein he highlighted the distractions mobile phones may cause to students preparing for exams. So there is a lot that needs to be done by different stakeholders like school and college teachers, health experts, mobile device manufacturers, gaming companies etc to address this problem.
However, the biggest question to ask is for a parent themselves. When you hand over a phone or a mobile device to a young child, are you aware you may be starting a one-way cycle for impairing the potential of your own child? What do you think you can do as a parent to change course midway? If you are just starting out, what may be your alternatives to entertain your newborn beyond the mobile phone screen? So the question to all parents is “Are you making your child a prisoner of the mobile device?”
