Fun belied, frolic denied

I don't want to make any tall and profound claims, but life sure has changed over the last few decades, especially for our younger ones. Vividly and fondly, I remember my own childhood and teenage years. Each day was filled with wonderment, joy and philandering, as my friends and I discovered the sheer bliss of an ever-widening world and the un-distilled mojo of just growing up. There were very few televisions, fewer telephones still, and no computers, Smartphones or video games. The grand old radio set held little of interest for us and after-school hours were spent loitering around, playing all forms of games, be it cricket, football, ice-spice, or even kho-kho and gilly danda.

Each day was one of a new breakthrough discovery, as our burgeoning minds got bombarded with bucket-loads of life-changing information. There was no Internet to let us learn about the birds and bees before our anointed time, letting simplicity and clean minds blossom. Not so anymore, if we fast-forward four-to-five decades. Everything has changed. Schoolbags are far bigger and heavier than the knowledge they impart, Smartphones and the Internet are most kids' best (if not only) friends, playing physical games outdoors is a forgotten art and my Next-Gen has probably not even have heard of gilly danda or kho-kho. But they most certainly know about Tik-Tok, PUBG and live streaming.

The last few nails in the growing-up coffin have been hammered in by the novel Coronavirus. In one fell swoop, COVID-19 smothered and obliterated whatever little outdoor activities were being pursued, confining youngsters and elders alike within the four walls of our repeatedly sanitized homes, faces stuck to mobile and laptop screens.

Lost childhoods

Today's children have the world in their pocket, literally, and I don't necessarily mean their mobile phones. Before the pandemic invaded our lives and lifestyles, children had their time-tables and schedules pre-defined, dried and cut out to almost the last minute of each day. They had school time, homework, tuitions, special classes, computer training and whatever outdoor gaming was allowed and reluctantly pursued. With the pandemic rearing its head, everything changed. Elders learnt to work from home, while little ones had to settle for schooling from home, with digital devices the only way to keep up with online classes and examinations. Everyone suddenly had a new best friend – Wi-Fi connections with plenty of bandwidth and reams of available data.

In fact, free time has been so aplenty that we now have a new affliction to joust with. Today's parents are struggling with skyrocketing 'screen-time' and online addictions. Let's look at some numbers to understand this. The Center for Parenting Education estimates that kids and teenagers are now spending over 40 hours each week staring at their digital screens. Around 23 per cent of these youngsters admit to actually feeling that they have addictions to video games (this includes 31 per cent of male and 13 per cent of female kids).

I am not propounding that youngsters not get screen-time or access to the Internet. In these days, there is no going around the fact that it is only access to the Internet that has kept education and learning going, at least amongst those who can afford to do so. When used properly, the Internet is a reliable and powerful source of information for children wanting to learn more about specifics they are interested in. But there is a point to be made here for lost emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence

Globally, study after study is throwing up alarming fallouts of excessive screen dependencies, some even claiming that this is stunting emotional intelligence, creating mental health and behavioral problems, making some children cry more often than others, while some are breaking things, and some (in extreme cases) are even threatening suicide. Adult brains are developed, says Neurohealth Associates, but children's (brains) are susceptible to changes in structure that can stunt neural development and lead to screen-dependency disorders. Some types of screen dependency are Internet addiction, Internet gaming disorder, compulsive Internet use, pathological video game use, mobile phone dependence and social networking site(s) addiction.

What does too much screen-time really do to our children, you ask? It can have devastating effects. According to some childhood education consultants, a child's screen dependency disorder may lead to insomnia, back pain, weight gain or loss, vision problems, headaches, anxiety, dishonesty, guilt and loneliness; and all this in the short term. In the longer run, symptoms can be as severe as brain damage. Some studies even suggest that screen dependency disorder leads to children's brains shrinking or losing tissue in the frontal lobe, striatum and insula. For the uninitiated, these are the areas of our brains that help govern planning and organization, suppression of socially unacceptable impulses and our capacity to develop compassion and empathy.

I am not an alarmist. I am merely stating facts that have been arrived at after years of research and studies by world-leading medical bodies and neurologists. To be truthful, while writing the two paragraphs above, I have promised myself I will personally cut down on my own screen-time; and you forget my rapidly advancing age. I like my brain – while it may not be growing anymore, I certainly do not want it to shrink.

Bane of the mask

If you thought the above bit of my ranting was unsettling and gross, then here's some more. United States-based Research Square conducted a survey amongst parents of children wearing masks for extended periods of time. Out of a total of 25,930 children, the average time spent wearing masks was 270 minutes per day (or four-and-a-half hours). Impairments caused by this extended use of masks was reported by 68 per cent of parents. These included irritability (60 per cent), headaches (53 per cent), difficulty in concentrating (50 per cent), lost happiness (49 per cent), reluctance to pursue outdoor activities (44 per cent), other malaises (42 per cent) impaired learning (38 per cent) and drowsiness or fatigue (37 per cent). These are scary numbers.

Thankfully, things are better amongst children in India, with schools and educational institutions yet to open and the use of masks being way lower in terms of wearing time(s). Anyway, in the indescribably macabre turn of events that we have witnessed over the last month and more, with the second wave mercifully dying down, most of India's adults do not believe in wearing a mask at all, even if they are in crowded marketplaces, metro rail services, hill stations or on public roads.

As a nation, we are erring on the side of shameless abandon, despite warnings from the authorities and clarion calls for responsible behavior, lest we invite a third wave. If that were to happen, God forbid, while we may blatantly write off the grim numbers later when the unaffected move on, our splintered economy will not be able to recover from another bludgeon blow anytime soon. As it is, an economic recovery is years away.

The less endowed

Then we have the other side, the have-littles and the have-nots. These are the people whose children are not going to be afflicted by any dependencies on high-end gadgets and digital bells & whistles, because they just don't have them or cannot afford the maintenance and monthly expenses. One of India's leading online examination solution providers revealed that almost 50 per cent of Indian students don't have access to the Internet for online studies in both urban and rural areas. The brutal implication here is that since the Covid-19 shutdown of schools and universities, their education has come to a halt – no classes, examinations or any kind of education for 18 months now, and there is no quick end in sight.

The Digital India rant notwithstanding, there is nothing happening at the ground level to correct this. But are we surprised? In a recent article, I wrote about 81-plus crore Indians being given free foodgrain by the Indian Government at a stated outlay of Rs 1 lakh crore. If 60 per cent of our people do not have the means to feed themselves and their flock anymore, can we expect them to pay for broadband Internet access? When the stomach is empty and the little ones are crying, who is going to blink a think for anything online, a Smartphone, a tablet or a laptop?

As a nation, we are walking a dark road and all I can see far on the horizon is a narrow tunnel, one that seems rather long, gloomy and never-ending. This tunnel does hold the potential to light the way for 50 per cent of our future, but it is not going to do this on its own. Our chosen torch-bearers and the privileged few have to step up to the plate and do their bit. Else, we run the risk of running aground our country's future and that shall be another grim tale.

The writer is a communications consultant and a clinical analyst. narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal