There was a time when parents complained that their children did not eat well or listen to their advice. What has them worried far more now is excessive use of gadgets and predators on the Net. Interestingly, this has made them not only monitor their children more closely, but also introspect on their own internet behaviour.
In recent times, with disturbing trends, such as reports of suicides being linked to the Blue Whale challenge, city-based counsellors and mental health professional say more parents are now monitoring the Internet browsing and social media usage of their children, and approaching professionals for help to tackle this.
The Blue Whale game from Russia in particular, which reportedly invites players to participate in 50 challenges, the last one being the player committing suicide, had raised an alarm among school managements and the Education Department, with the latter also seeking a ban on the game.
Manoj Kumar Sharma, additional professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, who also heads the Service of Healthy Use of Technology Clinic at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), said parents are now becoming conscious of their child's gadget and Internet usage. "Rather than merely advising their children to reduce internet use, parents are also making changes to their internet usage to set an example to their children," he said. He added that the clinic has been getting several requests from school managements to conduct workshops for parents on internet, mobile and videogame addiction.
Nagamani C.N., nodal coordinator, ChildLine 1098, said the episode around Blue Whale had made parents anxious. "People would earlier only complain that their child was not eating food or were not listening to their instructions. Parents are now co-relating this with their child's mobile usage. They have begun identifying this as a problem and are seeking professional help," she said. Ms. Nagamani says while they would earlier come across five cases per month, the number has now increased to 10.
Educators view this as an ‘extremely’ positive development. Dakshayini Kanna, principal of Harvest International School, said that there is more parental involvement, which is the result of an increase in awareness.
Over-surveillance?
But children are not taking kindly to this surveillance of their activities, when it is taken too far.
Surekha S., a class 11 student of a city-based CBSE school, said, "My parents got paranoid to an extent that I had to explain what every status message on social networking site meant. I understand that there is a need for parents to be careful, but this should not be done at the cost of our freedom."