While disallowing children to use smart phones has ceased to be a choice for parents in Jammu & Kashmir like any other place in the country, the frequent fiddling of the smart phones by children keeps minds of both parents and as well as teachers confused over their right or wrong use. So while the onus of keeping a constant vigil over the fiddling of smart phones by children lies on teachers in schools, the parents themselves see a situational compulsion in keeping vigil over the use of smart phones by their children at their homes due to changing social habits developing among the children in view of the increasing access of children to technology month after month and year after year. Irrefutable fact is that parents find themselves mentally and physically disturbed when they see their children getting exposed to huge technological risks day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. Equally irrefutable fact is that teachers also find themselves in chaos and confusion to see their students getting exposed to technological risks within and outside class rooms in schools. Though delaying the access to smart phones is good for the mental health of children but experiences now show that access to smart phones can’t be denied to children by their parents after attaining the age of 15 years due to increasing trends and tendencies of online classes both within and outside Jammu & Kashmir. So while delaying access to smart phones to children crossing 15 years age is not possible for any parent, the choice of a constant vigil by the teacher during class hours and the parents in the morning and evening hours can’t be compromised amid increasing trends of digital intervention in the teaching learning process. So the issue of concern is not the use of smart phones by children but the constant vigil over the fiddling of smart phones by children both at the schools and as well as at their homes.
“Constant vigil by both the parents and as well as teachers to stop the increasing habits of fiddling with smart phones is a remedy which would surely restrain children from using social media sites and develop good habit of using online classes for the purposes of preparation for competitive examinations like NEET and Undergraduate Entrance Test for admission in Central Universities”.
While there is nothing wrong in allowing children access to online cases both at schools and as well as at their homes on smart phones , it is the moral duty of both the parents and as well as teachers to disallow children access to social media platforms . So constant vigil by both the parents and as well as teachers to stop the increasing habits of fiddling with smart phones is a remedy which would surely restrain children from using social media sites and develop good habit of using online classes for the purposes of preparation for competitive examinations like NEET and Undergraduate Entrance Test for admission in Central Universities.
