A R Farrukh Ahamed :
The seemingly smart and happy couple (I am not naming them to hide their privacy – both are working professional, the man in his early 30s and the women in her mid 20s, were talking in a rather boosting mood that their 4 plus year lad is quite comfortable in handling their i-pods (the couple use those as working man and woman) and their only 11 months old daughter can short-out games or comic character in their i-phone’s touch screen. This couple is not the only one. It’s now a trend amongst most middle class families where children under 5 (U-5) are observed to be too engrossed in handling/using e-devices for e-entertainments. However, the scientists tell us a different story, which needs to be weighted seriously.
Too much exposure to technology at an early age of the kids has now become a concern for the research scientists and the parents around the globe. Children are gradually becoming addicted to electronic entertainments and in turn they are developing a conditional behavioural syndrome often with negative impacts. Even using tablets and smart phones at a very early stage of infancy can hinder children’s learning practice and speech development. A recent study published in the online edition of an international daily said, though parents believed the games in e-devices were educational and helping to the child’s development but this was not found to be the case. The children who played non-educational games such as Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja had lower scores in speech tests for both understanding of language and speaking. We are appalled with such unnecessary use of technologies, which makes our children to grow with poor language apprehension and mental fixation, commented the researchers.
e-devices have become a household appliance today globally, particularly in urban educated homes. From radio, TV to mobile phones, its realm has reached into children’s gaming tools too which are not equipped with child mannerism. And therefore, the wide scale use of such devices in kid’s entertainment has raised the question whether it is right enough or not. Children are, anywhere and everywhere, considered to be the future edition of human generation or society. They should behave as child by nature, but the frequent use of e-devices including internet through mobile phone is destroying the very child like conduct as expected in one’s childhood. According to a study, the average age of children starting using touch-screens were just 11 months and most use them for around half an hour per day. Therefore, the span of children’s engagement with the e-devices can sometimes appear sinister, even cultish. That is most cases such children are, by default of the parents, loosing the charm of childhood days, and child-like mannerism. They (the children) are also becoming subject of neglect and deprived of natural love. If needed, they may be scolded for ill manners and on the top of all they are to be reoriented to normal behavioural encounters with siblings, if any, parents and other family members. The social scientists are much more worried about such prototype medicinal growth of the kids in tech-savvy situation.
No doubt, children are growing up in a sea of radio-frequency radiation that has never existed in human history. Scientists, the Biophysicists in particular; and policy makers in tech-savvy nations have already expressed their concern that the ways these devices are being used may imperil the infant’s young brain as it is harmed by the phone’s pulsed digital microwave radiation. This constant exposure to radio-active pulses may damages the neuro-cells of the brain and scientists fear that it may even cause brain cancer as was case with Nokia first generation sets. As an emerging nation in accordance with increasingly used technology, especially the mobile phone, we are now to think of the use of e-devices by our youngsters. Similarly, the ophthalmologists are also concerned about the possible bad-effects of exposure to ultra-violent rays/signals that come from the magno-electric scenes of the i-phones/i-pods may cause visual impairment or eye sight difficulties for the children.
Doctors, practicing physical medicines and paediatric development experts expressed fear of audio-difficulties in those children.
Expressing his deep concerns on the issue, a professional social worker said, as the matter involves raising up of our children a future citizens, the parents the family, and the society at large need to be more involved, and of course, with real seriousness. He viewed that such isolated growth of the kids in an environment of excessive use of e-devices/e-entertainment, may pose threat to the social integration of the children. As a result, these kids may also develop a tendency not to share the established social norms and values in later life. The social worker also registered his apprehension for a sure cultural shock or diffusion of this tech-savvy generation of children that now we are rearing up. Moreover, these kids may even develop a trend to be less friendly to others in the extended family, if there be any; and develop steep siblings rivalry.
Mobile phones are just one of the sources for microwave radiation exposure. To protect the future generation from being an intellectually crippled nation, we have to think about the widespread use of e-devices by our toddlers. The government along with BTRC and the other stakeholders related to this sector should have come up with some policy guidelines to control these invisible threats and resists the abuse of mobile by the youngsters. The regulators can initiate an effective mass campaign to this regard through mass media. Above all, consciousness at family level should be encouraged. We must remember, we have to build up a healthy nation as a whole, not an individual entity alone.
It would be simply unwise not to guard the long run interest of the kids for the temporary and apparent smartness of the very young generation. The truth, in more simple word, is that a set of ‘smart phone’ does not make the kids smart, it rather kills his/her very potentiality to be smart both mentally and physically, in his/her grown up days. Parents, please mind it. n
