Recently on my trip to Chandigarh I met baby Rah. She is all of six months. Rah’s parents are friends from my college and we stayed in touch over the years. The first time I held Rah in my arms she started crying and howling to a point of scaring me. I wondered if I had just turned into a scary devil. And then, Rah’s mother and my good friend switched on the mobile phone and turned it towards her. Rah immediately, stopped crying and it seemed like the devil just vanished into thin air. I had never imagined mobile phones could take over me. While I was glad she stopped crying, I started thinking about it.
Kids of today, of course I mean those that are a couple years older than Rah, are smart and they can operate a smart phone, tab or a computer better than many adults could. They are exposed to gadgets even before they know how to speak or hold a pencil. I remember until a few years ago, children were first taught how to hold a pencil and scribble on Saraswati puja day, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom. Learning how to hold a pencil was very important for the parent then.
Today, parents hand over gadgets to keep children engaged. Are we depriving children from learning the right things? There are things that children are required to do at different ages which help them become physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually strong. Can we blame the parents? Is it just the times that we live in?
I believe that it is important to make our lives easy. In that process are we over simplifying parenting processes as well? How many of us wish there was a parenting app to make lives easier and how many genuinely take their children to the neighbourhood park? Do we let children play bare feet or in the sand and get dirty ‘vs’ sit on a couch to fidget with a gadget? I think we all know what the right thing to do is. My question is: are we making the effort to do the right thing? In my opinion, we need to make these efforts if we want our children to grow into healthy and responsible adults.
For once let us get off of our phones, tabs or computers and run with our children, do things that may seem silly while sitting on the couch. The bond we develop with children is going to stay. Lastly, as parents we need some exercise and what better way than playing with our children to exercise and relax. Kids will grow up and eventually use gadgets. Those are for convenience of the adult and not toys for kids.
Srijana
Srijana is a Home Room Teacher in Tatva Global School.
Well thought out. Deep thinking lets you see bigger systemic problems from small / seemingly insignificant symptoms.
The cell phone is now a serious problem to driving and paying attention. when invented, I am sure they did not think of the problem we have now.
Well done Srijana.
Thank you for giving us the platform to express ourselves.
Gadgets have changed the way we live. Some things are being invented to make our life simpler however at the same time it is taking away the human connection.
Well said Srijana. Gadgets are handy in every family and it is easy for elders to keep their younger one’s busy with these gadgets and carry on with there work. But by doing this they are eventually building up problems for them and their kids too.
Very true..though gadgets simplify our lIves but it does a lot of damage on young minds.
A very thought provoking blog Srijana. It made me think that we as adults run after some complicated solutions and make our already busy lives even more busy. We turn our backs to such simple solutions like you suggested. I can connect your blog to our theme for this month at Tatva Global School, SIMPLICITY.
Good one to read.. And its 100% true for this generation children
For this generation parents…. Kids always get ONLY what their parents give.
Ya simplicity is the mantra..as teachers and parents it is important for us to be with children, listen to them and guide them in every possible way. But somewhere I feel we have put aside all these things and are giving way too much importance to technology.
This is true, We have encountered the same situation and this is became common in all families, We parents some how stop our kids to play with mobiles,ipads etc.. all of sudden or over night this is not possible because kids are habituated ,slowly we have to do this.. Thank you Srijana for reminding and making us cautious
A wonderful thought for the need of the hour. I am reminded of a similar situation when I was dealing class 2. Mobile phones had just crept in….and here one kid of class 2 was asking me the mobile number. I denied having a mobile. This child said, ” Which world are you in….you don’t have a mobile…….” being reminded I would also caution all the youngsters of the harm it causes. I have seen many a similar situation. There’s a wonderful poem by Roald Dahl….”Television” on the same lines.
A very valid and true situation as a mother I am facing daily. Somehow I managed to post the comment by escaping from my 7 months old girl for the mobile light. I suppose, its the so called technology, a neccesity and a luxury which is exploiting. We the parents, misusing the techonology and guiding the kids in a wrong way. Issue is clear but the solution is unknown and cannot be rigid in this technology world.
Respected Srijana Ma’am,
A very good point raised by you and I am also having the same feelings as you.
In my view, most of the times these days this situation arises because of neuclear family and lack of joint families. The parents need some extra time for them (which was happening earlier also, but the child was taken care of the elderly people or by someone else in the family). So…….firstly if the moral value of the real essence of joint family are apprised to people, then the issue ncan be reduced to a considerable extent.
Otherwise, if a child is given an old mobile handset without SIM card and loaded with kids games with many new learning skills in a memory card, I don’t find any problem with it. Parents won’t even come to know as to when the child has learnt many rhymes or games without their active involvement in the child’s learning process. Its absolutely fine for me if the child is taken care of under proper supervision of parents or elders while using the gadgets.
The bottom line as per my opinion is that we are more inclined towards scientific inventions and digital world giving lesser importance to social involvement, norms and values of joint family. Thus, the baby follows the footsteps of the parents and teachers as the parents are the first teachers and teachers are the second parents.
Warm regards,
BR Dash
Warm regards.
Thanks madam. It’s totally impressed me while reading the blog. I have question my self,doing right or wrong. But daily I can see ‘ N’ number of examples . People are busy with digital world competition and more focused on jobs. Simply we are giving smartphone to kids while doing our routine work.
Ms Srijana ,.need of the present generation , replace ‘my’ with ‘we’….
Machine time to be replaced by human time.
Very well addressed ….An issue that is taking toll on both adults and kids.
Well Said Srinjana, Good to read.
Well said Srizna. Addiction of gadgets is not only killing our children’s social, personal and creative skills but also leaving negative impacts on their health and emotions. The excess use of electronics and gadgets should be and can be controlled by parents. They should fix their hour for playing with gadgets. Kids of 9 to 12 age require 10 hours of sleep that are favorable to their health. If they don’t get it, it is harmful to their physical and mental health. For this purpose, parents should adopt good strategies. In my opinion, it would not be a wrong strategy to ban gadgets for young children.