Mobile Phones Affecting Children’s Brains

By Our Special Correspondent

“Excessive screen time among young children can have severe consequences. It is essential to exercise caution when it comes to giving them to young children.”

FORMER XIAOMI INDIA CEO MANU KUMAR JAIN      

In our April issue we carried the serious concern of the inventor of mobile phone, Martin Cooper, an American engineer, the way people are using or misusing the modern gadget. Mobile phones have by now outnumbered total population of the world. Write up (Half Century of Mobile Phone from Brick to Sleek” was one the occasion of 50 years of cell phone.

Now a new study released recently gives disturbing facts about the effects of the mobile phone specially on the children. After examining, the study found that the earlier a child is given a smartphone,  the more the chances of him or her suffering from mental health  problems. The study further mentioned that women appear to be more affected.

The research conducted by a US-based non- profit Sapien Labs collected data from some 27,969 adults aged 18 and 24 from over 40 countries, including  4,000 Indians found that young adults who own smartphones as young as six reported more suicidal thoughts, and aggression feelings as adults than those who got phones late. Another study said that smartphone use among Indian children aged 10-14 was at 83%. This is 7 percent above the international average of 76 percent.

The Mental Health Quotient examines an individual on the basis of six parameters including mood and outlook, social life, cognition, adaptability and resilience, drive and motivation and the mind-body connection. The effects of mobile phones increase more and more among the respondents with the decrease in their age group. In the case of males, the trend was the same but was a bit less acute. These findings come against a backdrop of a progressive global decline in the mental health of the young generation that began around 2010-2014.

For parents, the findings gave a clear message, “Delay giving your child  a  smartphone as much as possible- the older the better. The peer pressure is high and it is best  if no one has one rather than one child being left out. At the same time, focus on a child’s social development. It is fundamentally important for their mental well-being and capability for navigating the world and is what has been displaced by the use of phones.”