Geek Gamble

When you type only the two words ‘how to’ in Google,the top three searches that appear are,‘how to kiss’,‘how to download youtube videos’ and ‘how to lose weight’. The software,of course,throws up the most popular questions asked first. This bizarre fact was narrated to an audience of 400 plus parents by a school principal with a warning on the perils and dangers of unsupervised Internet usage by children. The principal went on to give an example,in a tone of shock,on how some parents gift young children iPads as birthday presents. An iPad gift certainly sounds excessive,but it topped the wish list of almost 50 per cent American kids last Christmas. The other popular gifts were an iPod,the Nintendo 3 DS and an X Box 360,all electronic games or high-tech gadgets. So much for the days of innocence where kids would squeal with excitement at receiving boardgames like Monopoly or Scrabble: those games for urban youngsters are definitely over.

In Delhi schools,it seems more five-year-olds can play complicated video games than ride a cycle. They’re getting fatter and more sluggish,though they’re more wired and far smarter than their parents when it comes to figuring out electronic stuff in the house. Kids now seem to have an inbuilt encyclopedic system to decode apps,many of which remain baffling to adults. And it’s all very well,in theory,to condemn our dependence on digital devices to keep our kids entertained (a teacher would say distracted),but after a long day’s work when you have a kid nagging you to let them play on a phone,it’s hard not to give in to a solution that promises instant peace and quiet. I think games on the iPad are way better than TV in any case; children’s entertainment channels in India are absolutely unbearable,with strange Japanese cartoon shows dubbed in shrill,loud voices in Hindi.

How much TV or computer-gaming time should be permitted to a child per day? It’s a question most urban parents struggle with daily,before guiltily giving in to a screen to buy some peace. I’ve settled on half an hour on weekdays and one hour on weekends,and mostly,I stick to it and don’t give in to pleas and arguments. An outright ‘no’ doesn’t work unless the parent is leading by example: if you have the kind of life where everyone reads books,not e-readers,no one watches TV or works on a computer post working hours. But many parents are wired through the day and night with kids absorbing our lifestyles and making them their own. On the other hand,if a parent has no clue on how a computer operates,you’re even worse off: given the pace at which technology moves,your kids will be way ahead of you and you’ll be even less equipped to monitor their online activities. No doubt it’s a parent’s responsibility to ensure kids don’t have access to adult content on the Internet,but I’ve often thought that schools should also introduce some sort of course on the dangers lurking in the digital world. Since many 15-year-olds have cells,smart phones that provide 24/7 connectivity,it’s impossible for parents to monitor every site they’re visiting,so the best option is to make them acutely aware of the danger of sharing too much personal information online. Some parents I know sneakily read their kids’ e-mails,claiming it’s their way of keeping themselves aware of what’s going on. All studies over the years have proven that technology should not be used as an antidote to boredom,electronic devices should never replace real sports like football and cricket but occasionally if your iPad doubles up as a babysitter,you’ve made a good investment for sure.

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