Teenagers and mobile phones

The mobile phone menace

​Master Omkar, a 7th standard student, said to his father, “Father, yesterday Ramdas has bought a touch-screen mobile phone. I too want a mobile like that. When can we go shopping ?”

Dear Children ! You also might have said such a thing to your father sometime or the other, is it not? You may already have a mobile phone.

Use mobile phones responsibly!

Do not consider mobile phone to be an object of ‘fashion’ or ‘luxury’ : Nowadays, having a mobile phone has become a fashion. In the earlier times, the moment new trendy clothes would arrive in the market, children too would want them. Now, mobile phones have replaced clothes. When a new version of a mobile is released or a mobile with latest features arrives in the market, youngsters generously offer to hand over their ‘old’ mobile to their mother / father, and buy the latest mobile!Most children want a mobile to chat with their friends, send entertaining SMS and play games. Some children think that they look smart if they own a mobile.

Dear Children ! Today, mobiles are being bought not as a necessity but as an entertainment gadget and as a matter of pride. Therefore, remember that you are unknowingly getting stuck in the vicious cycle of enjoyment and desires. Bharatiya culture teaches us to get rid off indulgence and desires. Hence, in a way, we are losing our cultural values. Dear Children, this does not mean that mobiles should not be used. Buy a mobile only if you are going to put it to good use, that is, it should be really necessary and for the sake of serving the Nation and Dharma.

How do children misuse the mobile ?

1. Playing games : Many children have the habit of trying out various Apps on the mobile. Similarly, many children play different types of games on their mobile for hours together.

2. Unnecessarily messaging friends or using inappropriate language.

3. Giving unnecessary ‘missed calls’.

4. Downloading film songs and obscene pictures and MMS clips.

5. Watching or sending obscene videos.

An incident that takes place almost in every city :A 10th standard student in Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) showed some obscene video clips from his mobile to his male and female classmates. It was also revealed that he had sent those video clips to other students as well. The matter was reported to the police.(Daily ‘Sanatan Prabhat’, 26.9.2012)

Such activities cause unnecessary wastage of students time. As a result, they get less time for studies and do not have time for additional reading or contemplation.

6. Taking mobile phones  to school : Many a times, students are unable to pay attention to the lectures in the class because they are busy sending messages or playing games on their phones. As a result, most schools have banned use of mobile phones.