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| Kids addicted to electronic screens susceptible to obesity, diabetes | | |
New Delhi
For months, Shreya Gupta thought handing over her smartphone to her four-year-old son Rihaan would help reduce his restlessness since he would get busy watching kiddy videos. Little did she know that her child would develop what doctors call 'Screen Dependency Disorder' (SDD), a condition that needs medical intervention. "I used to get complaints from the teachers in his playschool. Rihaan had turned aggressive and wanted to take a tablet to his school. The playschool principal suggested that I immediately consult a doctor because my son had aggressively demanded a gadget from him," said Shreya, 35, a homemaker who lives in South Delhi's tony GK-II area. Rihaan isn't an exception. Every day, doctors in the Capital get at least four to seven cases of children like Rihaan addicted to electronic screens. Of these cases, children in the age group of four to 12 years more often than not grow up to be obese, diabetic and/or suffer from sleep disorders, said doctors.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) just recently published its 'Guidelines on Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep for Children Under Five Years Of Age." It says that infants and oneyear-olds should not spend any time at all looking at electronic screens. Screentime for children aged two, three and four should be limited to just an hour every day and lesser the better, the report said. "The benefits of less screen-based sedentary behaviour (TV viewing, watching videos, playing computer games) include reduced [obesity], improved motor and cognitive development and psychosocial health," added the WHO report.
SLEEPLESS IN DELHI
Three -year-old Yuvaan Singh could never fall asleep till he played games on his father's mobile phone. Initially, his mother thought he was suffering from insomnia and consulted a paediatrician at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). There, Yuvaan was referred to a child psychologist. "I asked his parents to keep him away from phones and keep him busy with books and toys instead," said Dr Rachna Saxena of AIIMS. According to a study conducted by AIIMS and the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, published in 2018, every third child among the 7,000 students surveyed in Delhi's private schools suffered from obesity. "Cases of mobile phone addiction among children who are beginning to show symptoms of health conditions are on the rise. Many of them are addicted to games such as PUBG. What parents don't understand is that children cannot buy mobile phones on their own. Why should parents give it to them? It is high time this was controlled," says Dr Saxena of AIIMS.
INDOOR MALADY
Saloni Singh, 39, mother of a three-yearold staying at Sukhdev Vihar, has to hide her phone because every time her son is around. "At times, it becomes difficult for me to handle his tantrums," says Singh, a private firm employee. The concern assumes greater significance with the summer vacations about to begin. During the oppressive weather and with abundant time at their disposal, most children confined indoors will invariably be drawn to gadgets. "I get at least four to seven children every day in the age group of four to 12 years who are addicted to electronic screens and are, as a result, obese, diabetic and have sleep disorders," said Dr Aruna Broota, a child psychologist based in the Capital. A 2018 study conducted by an MNC revealed that 57% of Indian parents surveyed were worried about the impact of screen time on their children's eyesight especially since more than 30% of children in India spent more than six hours a day staring at a screen. Another study of 10,000 urban schoolchildren in Delhi by AIIMS doctors established that in 40% cases, myopia progressed as a result of time spent in front of screens.
PARENTS AT FAULT
According to Dr Broota, the problem often begins at home. "Why cannot children be allowed to play and run around, even if within the confines of their homes? Rather than attend to them, the parents often take the easier option of
handing them a mobile phone or a tablet," she points out. According to the International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 95 per cent of children in India live in homes with a mobile phone and 73 per cent of Indian children are mobile phone users. Of these, 70 per cent fall under the age group of 7-10 years, while 76 per cent are in the age group of 11-14 years. Professor Sanjeev Bagai, Chairman Nephron Clinics, explains how children exposed to mobile phones, tablets, television screens tend to turn obese. "A stationary child playing on tablet or screen tends to eat more and in 99% cases they munch fried food which has high sugar, trans-fats and salt. These children develop metabolic changes in their body and usually suffer with low calcium and vitamin D directly linked to obesity. Prolonged exposure to screens creates hormonal imbalances in the children's bodies, further impacting their cognitive and endocrine development," Dr Bagai elaborates.
"The screen-time often coincides with meals, leading to overeating," Professor Sheffali Gulati, pediatrician and chief of Child Neurology Department at AIIMS, told Mail Today. Apart from the hours spent staring at screens, the average age at which children start using screens has fallen over the past decade from 3-5 years to 12-18 months, suggest a number of reports. Doctors say studies have proved that children who engage in physical activities show better development of the brain than those who are home-bound and stationary. "Physical exercise generates the neurotropic factor [biomolecules] essential for the brain's growth. It helps young ones to stay more focused, develop a strong memory and become less impulsive," says Dr Gulati. A few city parents such as Shreya Gupta have already started working on reducing their children's screen time. "As recommended by his doctor, I take him to a park every day to reduce his screen time, and also send him for taekwondo lessons. When he returns home, he is so tired that he can hardly think about any gadget," she said.
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