Tim Cook, CEO of Apple who recently visited India, had an advice for parents. He wants them to limit the screen time for children. He said “Kids are born digital, they’re digital kids now. And it is, I think, important to set some hard rails around it.” Various surveys of Indian children show alarming findings. A Saurashtra University survey of more than a thousand kids and their parents in Rajkot found that 92% of students prefer to play mobile game than play outside. Over 82% students demand the phone from the parents when they come back from school. 78% of the students are habituated to having their phone while having meals. In another survey by LocalCircles, nearly 55% of parents admitted that their children aged 9-13 have access to a smartphone throughout the day. In Parliament, MoS for IT gave a written reply in the Lok Sabha, citing a study done by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The reply said “As per the study, 23.80 per cent of children use smart phones while they are in bed, before going to sleep which increase with age and 37.15 percent of children, always or frequently, experience reduced levels of concentration due to smart phone use.” Other reports suggest Indian kids are amongst the fastest to get access to smartphones. Anecdotally, we have all seen in restaurants little kids watching phone screens as they eat their food. That’s often done to let the adults talk. Your own children are probably spending too much time on the phone as well.
We need to stop this. This isn’t just a limited issue of the time being wasted on the phone. Science now tells us these phones have the same effects on the brain like other addictive substances such as drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. Quite literally, the neurochemistry of excessive smartphone usage, involving the dopamine pathways of our brain, is the same as that of narcotic drugs. To quote one of the world’s leading authorities on addiction, Dr Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, ‘Just about all of us have a digital drug of choice, and it probably involves using a smartphone—the equivalent of the hypodermic needle for a wired generation.’
She is right. In some ways, we are all addicted. However, the impact of phone addiction on kids can be catastrophic. Everyone knows the usual bad effects – loss of concentration, lethargy, strain on the eyes and wastage of time. However, what is less understood is the addictive nature of these devices, and the consequences of the same. Whenever our brain gets any form of pleasure, a neurochemical called dopamine is released in our brain. Dopamine makes us want more of the same pleasurable experience or substance. This could come from food, alcohol, smoking, sex, drugs, video games, pornography or generally scrolling on the phone. As dopamine makes us want more, we seek to consume more and don’t want to stop. If that experience is taken away, we crave it and miss it. We also have withdrawal symptoms. These happen because in our brain pleasure and pain are processed in the same place. Our brain always seeks to counterbalance pleasure and pain. Hence if we feel too much pleasure, the brain creates pain to balance it. Hence, when we take away our drug or smartphone, we feel uncomfortable and keep seeking to consume more. That is why so many of us compulsively keep reaching out for our phone. Another aspect of our pleasure system is habituation. After a while, we develop tolerance to any easy pleasure. Hence, our addiction no longer gives us pleasure. We are then only left with pain. We then consume only to counter the pain and just feel normal. Any smoking addict will tell you that now they smoke only to avoid the uncomfortable feelings, to just feel normal. Similarly, once you are a phone addict, if that phone is taken away from you, you are just in pain. This pain manifests as anxiety, low motivation, depression, irritability and an inability to feel joy in anything. Does your child exhibit any of these traits? The phone could be one of the reasons.
Once your child is addicted to the phone, his or her brain pleasure and reward circuits are messed up. He or she now lives a life of pain and low motivation. Worse, when this is done to children at a very young age it can leave a lasting imprint on their growing brains neurocircuits. It can become difficult for the child to feel normal ever. they can be even drawn to other addictive substances. Please, do not let little kids use the phone or give them easy access. Even for older kids, ensure phone use is monitored. You as a parent show know what is being watched and for how long. And if you are a young child reading this, please stop destroying your brain and life by developing an addiction at such a young age.
In terms of solutions, for already addicted children, a digital detox is recommended. Ideally, a child should be removed from their phone (or usage minimized to essential items) for thirty days. Movement, such as exercise or sports, should be a daily part of a child’s life. Only activities that require some effort, such as reading, playing an instrument, sport or art should be the activities of choice for relaxation. That way, there is no cheap and easy dopamine, limiting chances of addiction. We Indians have a responsibility to bring up our children well. They didn’t ask for this – a world full of little addictive devices carried in every pocket. We must protect them. Do not opt for the easier, lazier option of child rearing – of shoving a phone in a child’s face to calm him or her down. You wouldn’t give a shot of whiskey to a crying child right? Then why is it ok to hand him or her an addictive phone? Let’s not be blind to this epidemic around us. This matters, for this is not only about us, but about the next generation and the generations after that.
May 6, 2023 ()