Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Jun 1: A survey conducted on increase in screen time for children during Covid times and its effects has found that 63 percent parents consider their children to be addicted to the phone while 95 percent parents consider that increased screen time affects physical health of their children.
The first such kind of survey conducted by Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Srinagar, has been published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine and Public Health (JIMPH).
An official who was part of the survey said that children today see a totally changed world, where they are exposed to technology along with dependencies and needs on internet and technology in the form of educational help, recreation, or even entertainment.
“There are many ways and many reasons a child is exposed to the digital screen. This predisposition to the digital screen has recently increased with lockdown all over the world, leading to many complications in different spheres of health, such as mental, physical, social, and others,” the official said.
“The study data were collected using an online questionnaire through Google Forms. The questionnaire was developed by the researcher and pre-tested in a pilot study on 20 parents having children who were using the electronic screen for online classes, homework, or recreational activities. Necessary changes in language, style, and responses were done following the pre-test,” he said.
“The maximum number of children belonged to the age group of 6-10 years and mostly were males (56.1%). Phone (68.7%) was the most commonly used device, while 54.4% children did not own an electronic device,” he said.
“Approximately 62.9% parents consider their children addicted to the phone, while 94 percent parents consider that increased screen-time affected the physical and mental health of their children. 61.6% parents considered that the increased screen-time decreased the academic ability of children,” he informed.
