As the online school vs no online school debate picks up, we can see so many arguments cropping up which really have not been thought through. One of them being “screen time is harmful for mental health”

I’m not denying it’s not. But what kind of screen time are we talking about? What you are citing are researches and studies done on kids related to screen time on gadgets and televisions. Where kids sit and watch cartoons for hours on end or play video games. This is all ‘passive’ screen time. The child is completely passive during this time. There is no interaction involved. There is no involvement of the child. There are only complicated visuals in front of the child which flash by in seconds. Vivid colours and loud sounds which leave a lasting impact on the child’s tender brain and and eyes. The fast moving screens make them restless and can often lead to ADHD kind of symptoms. Yes. This is harmful! It’s making the child a couch potato. There is no stimulation! It cuts the child’s ability to be imaginative and creative because things are readymade in front of them.

Now let’s talk about screen time in the context of an online interactive classroom. Here we have the teacher talking with the students. She is teaching a concept. She then makes sure all the students are understanding. She asks questions turn by turn to make sure they are all involved and understanding. She asks them to write it down in their books and probably answer some questions too. Kids only see their teacher and the teaching content. Do you see a difference? Do you see that in an online class the child’s brain is being stimulated. The class is interactive so the child can participate, think and answer questions. If the child has some questions, they can ask. They can clear the doubts immediately. Once class is over they have assignments to do which again is using their time constructively.

The one thing that has been on parents’ minds is that children are wasting their time. They do not have any constructive activity to involve themselves in. In today’s day if you want to do something constructive, again you will turn to the internet for ideas. I will look for an online origami or art class, or some public speaking class which will give something useful to my child. I cannot even send them out to play.

Personally I do not allow my children more than an hour of screen time everyday. So the rest of the day they have to find ways to keep themselves busy. Read books. Play with toys. Do anything you like but no screen time. But there are many parents who do not. Their kids go back to watching you tube or Netflix or play video games. P had a farewell party virtually when the last academic year ended abruptly. So after 3-4 weeks of left over assignments they had a virtual party. I listened in and all I could hear most boys doing was playing video games and some girls too! Many girls were only watching tv. And that was just the first few weeks of the lockdown. We have been through 3.5 months of that.

And now if these are extended further what will happen to the mental health of kids? No social interaction. No brain stimulation. No constructive activity. No physical activity. Nothing to do. What will happen of them? Our country hasn’t even reached it’s peak yet in COVID. So this is going to be a really long haul! Do you want to reopen schools? World over schools have opened and had to shut again because cases started rising.

We can only hope the government understands that adopting technology is the only solution. You are asking people to work from home but what about the children. They too will have to learn from home! Parents are too scared to send children to school yet. Unless the impact of the virus declines or we have a vaccine no one is sending children to school!

Fortunately the courts see through this. There was a Public Interest Litigation filed by some parents a few days back and today was the court hearing. The court has asked the government to make guidelines for schools instead of banning outright. So we see a light at the end of the tunnel.