BENGALURU: In order to address the addiction to mobile phones and social media increasing widely among schoolchildren, the Nimhans’ Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) Clinic is organising an online training session for parents every Saturday. Named Parent Group for Management of Technology Addiction (PGMTA), the session has attracted more than 5,500 parents since its launch in July 2025.
Dr Manoj Sharma, who heads the SHUT Clinic, said, “Before conducting each online session, we announce it on various social media platforms including X, Facebook and Instagram. Every week, the session gets on an average 300 registrations from parents across India who hail from various social and economic backgrounds. However, we restrict it to 50–60 people for each session so that each parent’s question can be addressed using various case studies we have seen so far.”
About the problems that parents face in helping their children overcome technology addiction, Sharma said, “The main issue is convincing children about the importance of limited use of mobile phones and social media. They are in constant fear that children will take their advice wrongly and resort to serious steps like self-harm, start lying to them and even become aggressive and irritated. The resistance has also led to serious fights in some families, forcing them to approach psychologists and therapists for counselling.”
Another concern for parents is children’s addiction to gaming and, in some cases, pornography. “Most of the cases that I have come across have parents complaining that their adolescent children are glued to their mobile screen for nearly 10 hours. This often leads to poor communication with parents and siblings, lack of interest in physical activities and poor awareness about what is happening around them. Students neither excel academically nor have long term goals because of this,” Dr Sharma said.
Focus areas
The online sessions for parents focus on three areas – cyber literacy to enhance parents’ knowledge about privacy settings, preventing data leak and protection from cyber threats; helping parents develop healthy communication with children and resolution of conflicts.
“One cannot build or develop these skills in a single session. Parents must make notes during the sessions. They have to practice it every day and attend sessions again so that it helps them strengthen their skills. There will be booster sessions for parents to help them face new challenges arising from technology addiction. We also run a helpline every Friday to provide support,” Dr Sharma said.