ALL STRESS AND NO PLAY MAKING CHILDREN ANXIOUS, WITH FRAGILE MENTAL HEALTH

Psychologists and writers are linking the mental health crisis among teenagers to the rising use of digital technologies, a 'Pandora's box' rewiring their brains. The way out, they say, is limiting social media use drastically for children, more unsupervised play, childhood independence and reading

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It has been clear for some years now that a section of teenagers across the world are going through a period of considerable anxiety. This phenomenon had been developing even before the COVID-19 years; however, the pandemic made the mental health crisis more acute. Added to this is the increased stress among teenagers about their livelihoods and their lives against the looming threat of climate change.

Children today have far less time for free play and wholesome interaction. Recess or break-time at school is often used to prepare for some test or the other. Added to this is the intense pressure around high-stakes entrance examinations that are more a filtration mechanism than a real test of aptitude.

Not only teenagers but even pre-teens find their school day lengthening inexorably into tuitions and special classes for selective tests, leaving little or no time for that basketball game or for just fooling around with friends. And certainly, interactions with friends on social media cannot replace in-person time.

Conflict around technology

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt links the mental health crisis among teenagers to the disappearance of free play in childhood and the increased use of smartphones, leading to sleep deprivation and addiction. According to him, digital technologies are a Pandora's box rewiring children's brains. Parents find it difficult to put limits on their children's use of technology.

Mr. Haidt writes about the "constant conflict" story: "Parents try to lay down rules and enforce limits, but there are just so many devices, so many arguments about why a rule needs to be relaxed, and so many ways around the rules, that family life has come to be dominated by disagreements around technology."