Life: Leftover time after social media

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What is life? The leftover time after WhatsApp and Facebook. The joke has become a painful reality as more and more adults and children are becoming addicted to social media, internet and gadgets, the cellphone hooking their attention for most parts of the day. As more and more services are converging on the phone, it is not surprising that on an average the device will demand more and more of the time of an individual. The trend has heightened during the pandemic when people could not move out and the phone, tab and laptop computer became the window to the world and all interactions with it. From paying utility service bills to banking transactions, from attending classroom lectures to office meetings, from interacting with aged relatives and conducting stock market dealings, from playing games to yoga classes, these devices have replaced our traditional activities. However, our day-to-day experience tells us that the time spent by an average adult and kid on these devices is far more than these activities warrant. The degree of addiction can be gauged from the fact that dozens die while they remain glued to phones on railway tracks or trying to take a selfie in dangerous positions.

But the real danger is in the children falling for it. The pandemic has heightened it and counsellors and psychiatrists are flagging concerns. While it is easy for an individual to develop eye and orthopaedic problems from overuse of screen-based devices, the tendency to shun human contact and staying glued to the screen gives rise to long-term psychological problems. When society-shy and screen happy kids grow up, they are likely to develop warped psychology, warn psychiatrists. Content regulation for kids is another challenge for parents.

In a sense it is a direct pitfall of the technology leap that India has taken. With more than 56 crore internet users, the country is just second to China in internet usage. Crashing internet tariff and cost of handsets have contributed to the explosion of internet usage. The problem is grave and in order to combat it, parents and teachers need to inculcate in kids the joys of outdoor life, nature and reading, painting and other non-screen activity. Mere pontification won’t suffice. Adults have to teach and lead by example. For thousands of years man has been a social animal. He should not become a prisoner to his own inventions.