‘Overconsumption of technology has negative effects on younger generation’

Srinagar, Feb 10: The Managing Committee of Amar Singh Club, Srinagar held the third interaction of its program ‘Common Interest Conversations’ on the topic of Digital Addiction: An Invisible Pandemic.

The interaction was presided over by Senior Advocate Zaffar Shah and chaired by eminent psychiatrist Dr Mustaq A Margoob. The panel included Dr Shazia Kouser – Developmental Psychiatrist, Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir, Mohammed Rafi, former Director Education, Peerzada Ashiq, Bureau Chief (The Hindu), Professor Mahmood Khan Kashmir University, Dr Musharaf Masudi, G N War (Education), Sardar Nasir Ali Khan, Sameer Wazeer (IUST), Tahir Peerzada and Managing Committee members Rauf Ahmed Punjabi, Parvez Fazili , Abid Shamas and other members of the Club.

The agenda of the interaction was an in-depth examination of the educational system and the impact of digital technology on it. Nasir Hamid Khan, Club Secretary welcomed the participants and thanked  Learned Senior Advocate Zaffar  A Shah for presiding over and renowned Psychiatrist Dr Mustaq A Margoob, for chairing the interaction.

Zaffar Shah said that in light of previous interactions, it was clear that overconsumption of technology had negative effects on the minds and body of younger generation and perhaps it was time to introduce the proper use of technology as a subject in the curriculum as a part of their education. “It would enable them from the very beginning of their learning process to differentiate between the good and bad of technology,” he said.

He stressed upon the thought for education to be functional and focus on the needs and interests of the student without the stress of grades and merit percentages. “Students need to be taught the skills they need to interact with technology. Efforts need to be made for enhancing the natural learning processes of the individual which develop the life and quality of mind rather than goal-oriented education which appeared to put students under stress,” he said.

Dr Mustaq A Margoob stated that mental health experts in Kashmir were concerned at the rising number of cases of parents approaching them regarding their wards indulging in hyper-active behaviour, abnormal anger and violence issues and reduced physical growth.

In his own extensive clinical practice and that of other mental care experts, there was a sharp rise in such cases where further probes reveal that the same children appear to be visibly pacified and calm when given a mobile device - clear signs of the pandemic of digital addiction including virtual Autism – a preventable and reversible affliction.

He said the first six years of life are an extremely critical period where foundations of personality are laid by the mind by processing and understanding the world around it. He said that nature has designed stress coming from peer pressure, competition, sports, as a positive trigger for children to face challenges, achieve goals, adapt to their environment and gain confidence which is essential for learning, growth and personality development.

He said that digital devices had added debilitating levels of stress on children and impaired their emotional intelligence processes due to which they find it hard to connect with their families and the community.  He said that it had been seen that the use of digital devices was akin to driving a 4x4 vehicle through your brain circuits and it takes 2-4 hours of screen-free time for the mental network to restore baseline levels. He stated that use of digital devices 2 hours before bedtime interfered with the natural sleep patterns resulting in loss of focus and physical and mental fatigue.

Nasir Hamid Khan presenting the vote of thanks said that “earlier conversations, besides being a learning experience for us, have been well received in the society.”

“We have successfully triggered public debates on various platforms. I was following some of these debates and I couldn’t help but sense an element of fatalism - which is the belief that nothing can be done to reduce the harm; that it is something pre-determined and beyond our control. But as our learned Senior Advocate friend Zaffar Shah so eloquently put it, it is a man-made problem and nothing divine, that it cannot be managed or controlled,” Khan said.