Mobile Phones have now become a 'part and parcel' of our life and its functioning goes way beyond the capacity of making or receiving calls.
We can't even think about our life without mobile phones.
it’s been observed that the usage of mobile phones is growing at a fast pace in today's school-going children, which is a concern for both parents and school administrators and teachers.
Generally, mobile phones are used by students for searching the content online, doing homework, learning new things, watching content on social media, connecting with friends, playing games etc.
By using mobile phones students can learn in a better way as they are comfortable, and students can get answers quickly if they are not able to understand things properly in an open classroom.
The advantages of Mobile phone usage by school students are as follows:
There is no doubt that a mobile phone is a valuable tool if used wisely.
- Through audio and video learning, students have longer retention in their memory.
- There is number of educational applications on browsers, and app stores where students can have an interactive learning experience.
- Mobile phones provide an easy access to information.
- Mobile phones as a medium offers great opportunities to enhance the education of young learner by blending online content and communication with traditional methods.
- It allows students to work in groups on projects, sharing information and discoveries.
Surely we can say that technology has made our life easy, but on flip side it's causing number of major problems physically as well as mentally in the students. The following are serious threats from Mobile phone usage by school students:
- Using mobile phones can make students lazy and inactive.
- They are glued with the mobile phones for long time, scrolling through social media, and wasting precious hours doing nothing productive.
- Not always the content that is available online is child friendly.
- The constant pings of notifications on mobile phones students get distracted during their studies.
- Not only the distraction but also students are suffering from poor vision due to excessive use, they are less focused, anxiety issues, poor academic performance, cyberbullying, bad posture and many more issues.
So now the question arises that if it's having both pros and cons what could be the ideal solution to this problem.
- Awareness should be made by schools, and parents among students about the impact of using mobile phones excessively.
- They should be provided counselling sessions at the school where they should be aware about it negative effects on health.
- Students should use phone under the supervision of their parents by co-engaging with children when they are using the screen.
- Parents ensure that their child finishes homework, studying, and housework before they get on the mobile phones.
- The limit should be set on the usage of mobile phones by encouraging playtime that will stimulate the brain and also physical movements allow children to use their energy and fine motor skills, learn new things and socialize.
- Use mobile phones only when they have to explore things online which is beneficial or required for their studies. The unnecessary usage of phones by students should be discouraged through counselling.
- Children should be engaged in extracurricular activities like theatre, music, community service, debates and many more to choose from so that they have meaningful and engaging time away from mobile phones.
- A child should be engaged into physical activities like playing outdoors and indoor which can improve the overall health of the students. Parents or grandparents need to take time out for them for these activities
Mobile phones are a reality, we need to provide access to children for using mobile phones but a conscious effort needs to be made to regulate and reduce it as it cannot be completely eliminated from the lives of school children. Scolding, threatening, punishing, and nagging may not help rather counselling and setting up a system of activities and making a routine can help.
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