The undivided attention of their children is surprisingly, a cause for concern among parents in the city. It isn’t the latest show on the telly or the matches being aired; a large number of youngsters and school-going children are increasingly addicted to video games. Though parents try to discourage their wards from stepping out in the hot sun during the summer vacations, the near ‘screen-stoned’ expressions of their children has them prefer the good old games in the neighborhood and traditional summer camps.
“To keep my son away from getting addicted to playing games on his tablet, I have enrolled him for piano classes this year,” says S. Jyotsna, who decided to take charge after her 13 year-old son, Sai, refused to break the monotony of his routine for two months straight last year and was planning on a similar routine this year as well. “He would just eat, play games and sleep. We used to take him out on weekends, but he would sulk then. This year I coerced him to join the classes by threatening to take away his iPad if he refused,” says the exasperated parent.
It is a common refrain among parents in the city and those who have an elder child to compare with, find a pronounced difference in the modes of recreation followed by the kids today. “There is an eight year age gap between my youngest and eldest son. The latter wouldn’t even be seen in the house once he’d go out to play during his summer holidays, while Rahman, who is in ninth standard, now simply buries his face in front of the laptop all day,” said Parveen Khan, a mother of two. A psychologist by profession, she adds that it is important to maintain discipline without force and cautions against the addiction to games. “One cannot keep the child away from internet which can also be used on the ruse of studies. If one tries to force the kids into not playing games or simply take away the gadgets, they become resentful and parents need to be innovative in keeping their children away from it,” she adds.While age-old games such as Need for Speed and Grand Theft Auto were atleast less violent and engaging, many parents do not know about the levels of violence most of these games promote. “My 13 year-old brother is hooked to games such as Modern Combat, Call of Duty and Assasin’s Creed. Only after I cautioned my parents, did they realise how extreme violence is portrayed in the game,” says Rashmi Chaudhary, a student in her intermediate second year. She adds that her younger sibling was addicted enough to head to the air-conditioned gaming parlours in Narayanguda on the pretext of meeting friends.
The problem of keeping children away from the games is compounded by easy accessibility of ‘educational’ tablet PCs and Android phone which have become ubiquitous. “One needs to wean kids off the addiction carefully and in an adult manner to prevent them from doing it on the sly,” says Parveen Khan.