Have you checked your child’s digital habits?

“The number of cases of over use of gadgets causing physiological and behavioural changes in children is definitely increasing day by day,” said Dr R. Manoj, a clinical psychologist. The digital addicts, who are glued to gadgets most of the time, seem to be losing their social skills, do not pursue other interests and become aggressive when they are weaned away from it.

Partly to blame are working parents, who pamper kids by buying gadgets, and later end up complaining about how their kids are addicted to it. A more dangerous fallout is that children also face the threat of inadvertently becoming victims of cyber crimes.

“I was shocked to see my friend’s son, a budding online chess champion, get into depression because of online bullying. We were taken aback to see another friend’s 12-year-old daughter turn into an internet-addict and gain 80 kilos,” said entrepreneur Noopur Raghunath who has come up with a mobile app to control internet usage of children through gadgets at home.

With this digital parenting application called e-Kavach, which literally means an electronic shield, parents can define the exact internet access hours of their children on various media, including smart phones, tablets and desktops, control downloads and monitor any kind of cyber threats or be alerted on spam messages, she said.

“But the question is how do children get access to such gadgets in the first place?” asked Dr Manoj. A growing number of parents, whether working or not, find gadgets an easy way out to pacify an attention-seeking child. he pointed out.

Also, with parents themselves exhibiting extraordinary digital behaviour, children tend to ape it. “So, though such apps are a welcome measure, the underlying fact is that parents themselves should learn to spend more time with their kids than their gadgets,” he said.