THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On November 17, a 15-year-old boy was found hanging at his house in Thiruvananthapuram city limits. On September 10, a 11-year-old boy was found dead in a similar fashion at his residence in rural parts of Thiruvananthapuram district.
While unconnected, the two incidents have one thing in common: In both, the children allegedly ended their lives after they were reprimanded for continuously using mobile phones.
Addiction to digital devices – dubbed digital addiction – has claimed the lives of 19 children in Kerala in the past three years, the state government records have revealed.
The statistics prepared by the home department said another 22 children were found habituated to drug abuse and sexual offences after getting hooked to digital platforms during this period. Sources in the police said only a fraction of such cases come to the fore and the real number of victims of digital addiction would be much higher.
Thiruvananthapuram Range DIG S Ajeetha Begum, who heads the social policing directorate that runs the digital de-addiction programme for children, says digital addiction results in exploitation of children as well.
“The children are targeted by adults for grooming even via certain gaming platforms. In certain instances, the predators, who befriend the children in digital spaces, lure them into sharing the bank account credentials of their parents, resulting in cyber fraud,” Ajeetha says.
The DIG says the ‘Chiri’ helpline, launched to address mental distress among kids, has been getting thousands of calls each month.
“There are multiple reasons behind the stress. And digital addiction is a major one. We are taking concrete measures to address digital addiction. However, the main solution lies at home and that is to maintain good communication with children and keep them engaged in other creative activities,” Ajeetha says.
Senior psychiatrist Dr C J John says digital addiction among children is growing as a silent epidemic, and parents remain largely unaware of this.
“The parents too are not role models as they themselves are addicted to gadgets. Digital addiction is as dangerous as substance abuse. The children are not indulging in multi-faceted activities and rather get confined to the digital world,” Dr John says. He adds that when efforts are made to curb the addiction, children tend to exhibit irritability and violent behaviour. “The menace should be addressed seriously,” he says.