– Mita Mukherjee

Children are not behaving appropriately; their actions in most situations are not upto the expectations for their stage of development, and counsellors, teachers say the trend is the result of an increasing tendency among adults to depend too much on screen time while dealing with children’s emotions.

It is often seen nowadays, kids not acting properly at home, public places like restaurants, malls, social gatherings, even at doctor’s clinics. They even refuse to eat during meal times without looking at the screen. Many parents would often let them look at screen to ensure they can experience the way they want to in certain places or situations for instance when they are shopping at a mall.

According to counsellors and teachers, by indulging in screens whenever children are angry, parents are preventing the kids from learning to cope or adjust and exposing them to mental health problems.

“It is normal for children to throw tantrums because kids cannot manage their emotions. They can express anger or discomfort for various reasons. It could be hunger, health issues or because of not getting something they would want to have at that time. We need to identify the exact cause of the discomfort. Allowing them to look at screen may be an easy option to pacify them. It would give them temporary relief. But this has a long-term effect on their behaviour and mental health development. They will not develop the skill to regulate emotions. Adults must understand that they cannot rely only on screens for comfort without identifying the actual cause of their anger or discomfort,” said Kolkata-based psychiatrist Sujata Bhattacharya.

According to counsellors more and more parents are visiting them now with queries on how to address the difficulty their wards are developing in controlling their behaviour because of excessive dependency on screen time.

“Students suffering from anxiety and depression due to academic pressure, exam-related stress and competition would approach us seeking solution even before. Now, there is a significant rise in mumber of parents seeking intervention for their wards’ behavioral problem related to excess screen time,” said psychologist Mahua Ghosh.

According to Ghosh, children are now developing addiction to screen time from very early age and parents play the most important role to check the trend.
According to Bhattacharya, limiting screen time for young children has been recommended by the World Health Organisation and other international agencies.

“According to recommendations, there should be no screen time for children below 18 months and one hour or less for children aged between two and five years and not more than two hours for children above five years. But most parents do not follow this recommendation,” she said.

Some teachers say they cannot expect kids to not be allowed to use gadgets at all in the present education system, particularly after pandemic when online teaching and learning is being used along with offline mode at all levels of school education starting from preprimary to primary, secondary and plus two levels.

Mome Bandopadhyay, a teacher of a reputable school who has been responsible for handling children with behavioral problems because of being exposed to excessive screen time said the trend is rising significantly in her institution as well.

“The trend is dangerous, it needs to be checked and parents play a very important role in this regard. We are telling parents regularly that there should be some rules set for their kids screen time and every parent must ensure they stick to it. We cannot stop access to gadgets. But we can ensure the time limit and make sure that whatever content they access is strictly age-appropriate,” Bandopadhyay said.

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