Toddlers on Tabs: Are parents being wise to create this ‘gadget addiction’ among their children?

Earlier there were maids and nannies to offload offspring onto, now there are gadgets that busy parents fob their children off with. The pure fun and simple joys of childhood all seem lost in the shrieking cacophony of some mindless online game these days! Are parents being wise to create this ‘gadget addiction’ among their children; isn’t it just promulgating consumerism?

THIS TOO SHALL PASS/By Punam Bakshi Mohandas

About a couple or so years ago BC (Before COVID), I remember having gone to a restaurant for dinner and being absolutely dumbstruck by the family dining at the next table to mine. Mummy, daddy and two children – and all four on their own tablets/iPads! Like, what was the point of even heading out? My daughter advised me rather ungallantly to mind my own business. Well, sure, but it raised all sorts of questions in my mind, like: Were they bored with each other? Did they dislike each other that much? Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have ordered take-away?

More recently though, I was at a mall quite literally minding my own business, as advised, when a little chap almost crashed into me. He couldn’t have been more than two and a half years old. Eyes firmly glued onto the iPad he was clutching in his tiny fists, he was en route to the lift, his mother tottering behind him on heels, clutching shopping bags of her own.

Call me a fossil, but I think it’s criminal how babies and toddlers these days are being groomed to handle electronic devices. I’m not awed – I’m astounded, when a friend proudly tells me her preschooler can handle the TV remote and change channels to choose one of his liking! What’s he doing watching telly anyway?

Why aren’t parents giving more time to their children; answering their questions; reading to them; playing with them; showing them how their imaginations can soar, instead of fobbing them off with devices? Why aren’t children playing with each other? Are there no more fun play dates or sleep-overs happening, that aren’t choreographed between glorified ayahs? Why do children these days frequently use that trite phrase: “I’m bored”. Bored? What’s “bored”?  How can anybody be bored when there’s a whole magic world out there to be explored, of mud pies, tracking ladybirds and butterflies…

Recently. I conducted an exercise with senior under-graduate students, asking them what they recalled from their own days at school and whether they felt robbed of their childhood. Almost to a man, each one said there was immense stress on academics from schools (some held parents responsible for this as well) and their suggestion was to increase play/games time, particularly for little children, as this leads to an overall better development in social and mental skills. It was significant to note that this young generation, brought up almost surgically attached to electronic gadgets, nonetheless realized and emphasized the importance of outdoor play and team sports, where so many adults have forgotten to acknowledge this.

Even though I am an only child, I still remember having so much fun in my childhood with friends and cousins. Anything would become a game for us, in a jiffy! We made ‘food’ by crumbling Parle G biscuits in water (much as this biscuit remains my favourite, I have to tell you this concoction tasted pretty foul!) We constructed houses and villages by mixing water with mud; we played ‘pithoo’ with a pile of stones balanced precariously atop each other; there were kanchas (marbles), gilli-danda, climbing trees with my cousins in a village in Punjab (at which I, the city girl, sucked).

We’d pluck imli (tamarind) leaves and chew on them and hold forth on a lengthy debate as to whether it tasted the same as the fruit; we’d take apart the bud of a red silk cotton tree with forensic precision, to feel the soft, feathery smoothness within. We filled left-over Holi water balloons, crept onto the balcony, threw them on unsuspecting servants and passers-by and ducked down immediately to avoid being seen – the irate shouts at a successful hit was music to our ears.

Then there were the balmy nights when the manjis would be laid out in a row on the lawn; while the elders did their own nightly routine, my cousin and I would lie under the macchardaani (mosquito net) under a sky filled with stars and we’d plot and plan the next day’s mischief in whispers, or make up imaginary tales. If there was nothing else handy, we just ran around in circles chasing each other until it was time to eat.

So, I can’t fathom what “bored” is. How can a child ever be bored? Why are adults today robbing their children of the simple pleasures of childhood? Children should grow up free and uninhibited around Nature, so that they know where our roots come from. It breaks my heart to see toddlers left to their own devices (pun unintended!) to play games or watch cartoons on iPads and Tablets, when parents should be engaging with them, telling them stories, delighting in their curiosity and their joy at discovering new things about our world.

Punam Bakshi Mohandas is a journalist and writer with 25-plus years of work experience across India, Dubai and Thailand. A nomad at heart, having travelled over 43-countries at last count, Punam is also a film critic. She was a weekly columnist for the Hindustan Times (New Delhi edition), Delhi Midday, The Financial Express, The Statesman and the Times of India (Kolkata edition). She is also the author of the book, ‘Fallen Angels