SMARTPHONES SHOULD BE USED IN A WISED MANNER

Technology has developed a lot and has changed our lifestyle. Nowadays we cannot imagine our life without technology especially mobile phones.  Not only elders, kids too love using mobile phones. We can see kids eating food while using phones. While doing homework too, they use phones. So, is it necessary to provide mobile phones to the kids?

Although mobile phones advantages like instant communication, camera, entertainment, education and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), it has some disadvantages which affect human life which are:-

1. Health Hazard: Today’s children are growing up in a radio-frequency environment that never existed in human history before. The radiation emitted by smartphones can have adverse effects on children. Children absorb more than 60 percent of the radiation into the brain than adults. Their brain’s thinner skin, tissues, and bones allow them to absorb the radiation twice than the grown-ups. Their developing nervous system makes them more vulnerable to this ‘carcinogen. Too much screen time can result in digital eye strain, which can include burning, itchy, or tired eyes

2.  Kids lose interest in academics:  Mobile phones have different applications like chat, social media, and YouTube.  Kids love to watch different shows and programmes on YouTube. Not only that, they prefer to use tiktok. It not only kills time but kids lose interest in academics. They get lost in making videos for tiktok and posting them.

3. Inappropriate Behaviour:  Use of cell phones can lead children to engage in inappropriate behaviours. Applications like games and social media are growing problems with children. When kids hang on YouTube and other social media, they see different programmes and learn negative sides. When they see action movies on YouTube, they too apply to real life. Not only that, when they see spider man jumping from one building to another, they try to intimate the same. Furthermore, the more they watch the movies, the more they might be violent. They use the words used in the movies without knowing its meaning. Not only that, but they have also accessed pornographic sites from the phones.

Moreover, when kids are busy with the mobiles, they get more annoyed.  They tend to become more violet and irritated even at the normal discussions. The worst case is that children stop communicating with the family all together. Children can feel the need to constantly check for messages. They become irritable when they stay away from their smartphone for any period of time.

4. Impact on Social Development: Kids, who hang on mobile, do not have time to engage with friends, play or socialize. Lessor no interaction with the person affects their social development. Mobile eats away the time they get to interact with other children in their social circle, which affects their knowledge and understanding of social interactions and behaviour.

When there were no mobiles, I with my used to play outside. Games like badminton, football, and others. We used to have an interaction with friends and know our friends well. We knew the meaning of the socialization. Furthermore, during the Dashain festival, I used to see kites in the sky which were the most beautiful part but nowadays, it’s rare to see the kites in the sky. Not only that, we used to sit down with our parents and had communication with them and knew their lifestyles. But nowadays, when there is a vacation, kids’ gang out in the mobiles. They play mobile games rather than playing outside. During Dashain festival, I used to kites in the sky which was the most beautiful part but nowadays, it’s rare to see the kites in the sky. There is less communication and in family members, everyone has mobile phones and spends their time in mobiles rather than interacting with family members.

I am not saying to use mobile but it should be used in a wise manner. It has its own advantages. It helps with education. Whenever kids are confused about their homework, they can Google and search for the information. Moreover, there are different reading materials to study. Not only that, kids can learn how to dance, draw pictures and others but it doesn’t mean that they should hang all the time on the mobile. Parents should control their kids when to use their phones. Phones should not be baby sitters. Parents should teach their kids what is important in their life. Instead of providing, parents should encourage their kids to play in the ground, encourage them to do creative works like painting, dance, writing stories, etc. Not only that, parents should interact with their children so that they can learn from their parents. Furthermore, when kids are using the mobile phone, the parents should know what their children are watching. The more the kids use mobile phones; there will be psychological issues such as loneliness, being suspicious all the time, feeling self-centered etc. are caused by using a smartphone and being online, most of the time.

So, mobile phones should be used in a wised manner and it should not be affected by the children. Furthermore, parents should not leave mobile phones in the children’s bedroom at night. Parents should manage screen time for the kids and prevent them from smartphone addiction. Parents should know that it's not mobile that needs to control the kids. Its parents who need to control over mobile and their kids. So, mobile phones should be used in a wised manner.