When I used to visit my daughter, son in law and grandson in Hong Kong, I get the opportunity to meet the present generation. Many evenings were spent out at restaurants accompanied by the young children. After being seated, the mothers dive into their handbags and out come the iPads which are placed in front of the children that screen movies like Kung fu Panda, Simba the Lion King, Angry Birds, or others, as per the demand of the child. Next in line are smartphones, that are like miniature oxygen tanks, carried everywhere by emphysema patients.
Parents feel that their children are becoming smarter by learning how to count, sing, dance, study on devices. Yet they are unable to do the simple additions, subtractions, multiplications, divisions, leave alone simple square roots etc without opening the calculator on the mobile.
While browsing through old magazines at the RSI (Army Institute) at Bengaluru, I saw on 2016 issue of the Time, a picture of a teenage girl. She has shoulder-length dark hair, is wearing jeans and a lace pink shirt. She looks like all the life has been drained out of her and like she has no hope left in the world. Next to the teenage girl is the headline that reads, “Anxiety, Depression and the present Youth.” Is it because the real world is being replaced by virtuals and the more dangerous transition of believing that virtual experiences equal real experiences?
I am a great admirer of technology. Technology has brought with it tremendous benefits. I myself make all efforts to learn and use technology to my advantage. Even today at the age of seventy-five, I spend one hour every evening from 6 pm to 7 pm with my PA improving my knowledge and skill-set with regard to computers. At the same time, we must take all precautions to guard against the evils technology brings with it.
I feel that young parents and us grandparents are pushing kids towards screens and devices. Addiction to screens, devices is a matter of serious concern. Are we pushing our young children towards a lethal addiction that would harm them now and in years to come? Are we harming our children by over-exposing them to technology during their most impressionable years? We may not see the adverse impact of devices and screens today but it will become apparent as they grow older. Our children and grand-children are our most precious possessions --let us keep an open mind and try to protect them.