Octopus grip of digital addiction

Digital addiction is one of the biggest dangers of the new era. It affects everyone regardless of age. However, this digital addiction can lead to serious mental and physical problems in children. Anticipating this, the state police force has formulated action plans to bring children having digital addiction back to normal life. The police are becoming the saviours of children who are losing their lives as addicts to online games, social media, pornographic websites, etc. In the last two years, 1700 children have been rescued through police intervention. Children are freed from this addiction through digital de-addiction centers set up by the police. This requires psychological treatment and counselling that lasts up to three months.

The adults at home, including parents, play a major role in instilling the habit of digital addiction in children. Wherever one looks, one can see only people staring at their mobile phones. This is the same situation whether at home, on the road or in vehicles. It is not their fault that children who see this try to imitate it. A doctor from Sree Chitra Medical Sciences, who conducted a study on this, had given a talk that allowing children to watch videos on mobile phones even while feeding them can lead to even serious cancer diseases that affect the brain. This talk, quoting ET Muhammed Basheer, had gone viral on social media.

The modern generation is almost completely missing out on the childhood that should be spent in physically stimulating games due to digital addiction. Parents should be the first to give up the habit of constantly looking at their mobile phones in front of their children. Similarly, if parents realize that digital addiction is causing disabilities in their children, they should not delay taking the initiative to get them treated. There are police de-addiction centers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur. The government should take immediate steps to open these in all districts. The cost of setting up a center is around Rs. 35 crore. Range DIG Ajeetha Begum is currently coordinating 'D-DAD'.

Everything that can be good or bad for a person is available on the Internet without discrimination. It will even give shortcuts to suicide. At the same time, it can also be used to handle math and grammar very easily. It is dangerous for a child to enter the world of the internet before they are mature enough to recognize good and bad. Such children who retreat into an isolated life through digital addiction are the ones who quickly become addicted to drugs and other things. One of the first signs of digital addiction is a decrease in learning ability. If parents and teachers monitor this carefully, we can save our children from becoming victims of this disorder at the very beginning.