Hooked: Psychiatrists flag social media addiction among kids

Ludhiana: At just seven, Jaspreet (name changed), resident of Dugri, is struggling with anger issues. When he is not surfing social media, watching cartoons and mind-numbing videos online, he usually snaps at family members. Concerned about his rising irritability and poor grades, his parents decided to consult a psychiatrist.
Raising the red flag on social media addiction in the young, a psychiatrist at the civil hospital said that they had received four such cases since Jan this year. A psychiatrist at a reputed private hospital and medical college also reported receiving a patient below 10 years of age, with symptoms of social media addiction.
Dr Arvind Goyal, consultant psychiatrist, civil hospital and general secretary of Ludhiana Psychiatrist Forum, confirmed that since Jan, they had received four cases of children aged around seven to eight suffering from social media addiction. He added that all the patients experienced anxiety, sudden changes in behaviour, auditory hallucinations, and sleep-related problems. Besides, he said that the children lagged in age-related development and had speech issues. They were given symptomatic treatment at the OPD.
Sources in the psychiatry department of the civil hospital said that of the four children, three were boys based in Ludhiana while one girl was originally from another state. All four spent at least four to five hours on social media every day, sources said, adding that the department did not usually receive many such cases in a month.
Dr Navkiran S Mahajan, head of the psychiatry department at a private medical college, said that children suffering from social media addiction showed a decline in academic performance, did not participate in extracurricular activities, were irritable, displayed aggression towards elders and had compromised sleep. She added that the problem affected everyone from children to adults.
Psychiatrists said that the problem was much more widespread than reported. City-based psychiatrist, Dr Anshu Gupta, said that he has received at least 15 such cases in Feb and believes that the number of such children is about 10 times more than the cases being reported. He added that while most children came with parents, schools also referred children for treatment after witnessing behavioural changes related to social media misuse.
"However, we believe that they were not born with the addiction. We have given it to them. Often, parents hand over phones to their children in a bid to relax. The children then get hooked to social media. In many cases, we hold counselling sessions with the children and parents. In severe cases, we give symptomatic treatment to the children," said Dr Anshu Gupta.
"There are medicines with very good results. Also, most parents whose children have such problems are very cooperative." He added that they counsel parents and also educate children on how misuse of social media is affecting their life.
Important points for parents:
1. Parents shouldn't overuse social media in front of children. Preach what you practice
2. Maintain a check on whom children are spending time with. Spend maximum time with them
3. Promote outdoor and physical activity
4. Use apps to monitor the online content they are watching
Box 2: Advice for parents
Ritu Malhan, a teacher at Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, said that they advise children on how the misuse of social media can impact them. She added that the children should evaluate themselves to see whether the long-term usage has added any value to their lives or helped them gain something. "If they themselves analyse, they would understand that such overuse was a wasteful exercise. Social media is a great tool if used wisely, or it can be a total distraction from relationships, education, and health," said the educationist.