Addiction to smartphones during Covid-19

Mohrom Pathan

The prolonged lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a marked increase in the use of smartphones among the youth especially in the urban areas.

The restrictions owing to the Covid-19 have had a far-reaching psychological and societal impact, particularly among younger people. Virtual classes, the norm during Covid-19, have resulted in high internet use by them, increasing opportunities for misuse.

Unsuspecting parents who leave their offspring unsupervised would be shocked to learn that online gaming has doubled over the past few months, largely due to students bunking virtual classes to sign up and play multi-level games online.

In this digital era, the use of information technology is increasing worldwide.  One of the development plans of our present government is to take the country forward in ICT and we have come a long way in this sector. But people are not only benefiting from the ICT but also suffering from many difficulties or evils. 

New technologies like smartphones and internet have spread beyond the city limits to the rural areas. And the number of internet users is increasing exponentially. Many of the teenage internet users are becoming addicted to mobile gaming indulging in the abuse of the internet.

In the past, parents used to give opportunity to the children to play traditional sports like Ha-du-du, Gollachut, Dandiyabandha, Kanamachhi etc. Later, however, the demand for cricket and football became more prevalent among children and teenagers. But now there is no opportunity for the children to play such outdoor sports.

So, it is seen that parents have a lot of plans to fill the lack of playing environment for their children. As a result, they hand over smartphones to keep the children calm. Many parents want to see their children always in front of their eyes feeling insecure about the outside world. They feel relieved delivering various electric devices like mobile phone, laptop, computer, tab, and so on which later makes their children addicted to various video games.

Children's interest in video games is nothing new. Now almost all of the games are created in the context of war, violence and bloodshed. Students are spending their leisure time on the smartphone, or on the tab screen playing these kinds of games which surely does not carry anything good for their health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has included this kind of addiction as mental illnesses. Psychiatrists have argued that excessive addiction to video games not only hinders the socialisation of children and adolescents, but also has a negative effect on intellectual development. The effects of internet addiction have become an obstacle to the progress of our next generations.

Many parents are criticizing their children in various ways after realizing it. But to get rid of guardian’s supervision, they are going to internet cafes with the money saving from buying books, notebooks, pens, and snacks etc. And it’s very alarming for us.  

According to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC), as of March 2021, there were about 116.14 million internet subscribers in Bangladesh, of which 106.33 million were connected to the internet via mobile phones. A large number of these users are secondary or higher secondary students.

Smartphone addicted adolescents gradually start to behave rudely towards their parents. At last, they turn into a teen gang with their spoiled friend. And for the last few months from petty crimes to murder, stalking to rape, mugging to drug abuse - teen gangs have been making headlines again and again. Now, teen gang culture in our country is too dangerous to be ignored.

The government as well as the responsible guardians, must come forward to save the youth from this destructive addiction through joint efforts. Specialists suggest few ways to save youth from it. These are – encouraging them to spend less time with phone, inspiring them to outdoor activities, letting them learn and do things which they are genuinely interested in so that their time gets well utilised, making them visit new places as it makes one’s mind refresh, letting them be around people who can teach them meaningful lessons about life which would make them able to take right choices in life, making their experience of reality better than before by guiding them etc.  

The writer is a sub-editor at The Business Post.