Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, June 1: A study conducted by the GMC Srinagar’s Department of Community Medicine has revealed that increased screen-time is affecting the physical as well as mental health of the children across Kashmir while noting that more than 60 percent of parents who were the part of the study have stated that the same affected the academic ability of their children as well.
Carried out by Muhammad Salim Khan, Sabira Aalia, Ruqia Quansar, and Inaamul Haq of the GMC’s Community Medicine department, the study titled ‘Increase in screen-time for children during COVID times and its effects’ concludes that the present scenario in wake of COVID-19 has brought to the forefront the need to revisit the concept of screen time from a health perspective.
In the study, 307 parents from various Kashmir districts participated and as per the results, 94.5% of parents considered that increased screen time affected the physical health of the children while 94.1% of parents consider that the increased screen time affected the mental health of children. “61.6% of parents considered that the increased screen-time decreased the academic ability of children,” the study revealed.
It stated that the possession of a personal phone or device has a positive association with the increased screen-time among children. “This can be due to no continuous watch over these children by their parents, easy access to their phones at any part of the day and night, no one to limit or restrict them from using their phones.”
As per the study, the children with personal devices or phones were more skilful and had the liberty to use the phone as per their convenience or time and preference and even during the odd hours at night or before going to bed.
Those associated with the study said that they saw 64.5% of parents reported that they do not prefer online applications for the education of their children, whereas 20.2% of parents said that they prefer online applications and 15.3% of parents were not sure about the usage of online educational applications.
The study revealed that 94.1% of parents were in agreement with the fact that the increased screen-time or increased use of devices/phones was affecting the mental wellbeing of the children, whereas only 5.9% were not in agreement with the statement.
“The use of smart devices/phones leads to poor concentration and emotional and mood instability and poor self-control. The user may also be associated with anxiety and depression and poor interpersonal relationships. Similar findings were also reported in studies,” the study noted.
It said that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the shift of the educational system of the nations to the online mode from the conventional school mode due to the lockdown and restrictions.
“The restrictions and lockdown have led to the stoppage of the school services and thus the education system has taken a setback and thus changes of the policy to the online mode. The online mode of education has thus led the children to more use of smartphones and devices and thus increases in the screen-time.”
The study concludes that given the exclusive reliance on time spent looking at the screen as a measure to ensure healthy use of the Internet and Internet-enabled devices, there is a need to look beyond the absolute amount of time children and adolescents spend looking at the digital screens.
“Hence, it is important to have a well-thought approach to the role of the Internet and digital devices in teaching and learning.”
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