 |
| Digital Dependency |
Helping Youngsters to Overcome Digital Dependency
‘A 17-year old boy who was addicted to online game commits suicide’ (Times of India, May 17, 2022). This is not a piece of one-off news but becoming quite common nowadays.
If such a thing happens, what would
be the state of his family and friends, especially his parents? Who takes
responsibility for such an occurrence?
Digital Dependency has become
quite rampant due to the increased internet use. Rather than using smartphones to advance education, youngsters fall prey to games and other
undesirable things. It could be using a smartphone, social media, or the
internet.
Sometimes parents and elders are happy when an infant plays with the mobile! However, they do not understand the danger it brings to the child’s psyche. Using mobiles as pacifiers is even more dangerous.
Parents and counselors can help these youngsters to overcome such dependencies. Children live in a fast world, where they borrow others' decisions rather than make decisions. They have no time for anything because they have not adopted any regulation mechanisms.
Children stop trusting their
parents, elders, and relatives. They start developing a FALSE identity and do
not want to associate themselves with anyone else.
Let us first consider why
these children are regarded as a failure. We call them a failure without
knowing why they are so. Each letter in the word failure represents some aspect
of the children’s behavior.
They would rather depend on
the digital world than face reality for the following reasons.
FAILURE
F = Fearful; ; A = Anxious; I = Indecisive; L = Lazy; U = Unreliable; R = Reclusive; E = Evasive
1.
Fearful
Surprisingly, these children
are afraid of their future. They are still determining how to go about their
worldly affairs. They don’t want to let down their parents.
Fear of success is greater
than fear of failure.
What if they fail? How to cope
with such a disaster?
What if they succeed? How to
manage continuity in success?
2.
Anxious
They cannot pinpoint and say
what they are afraid of exactly. There is always free-floating anxiety that
whatever they do will end in catastrophe. They ascribe their reasons for
arriving at such a conclusion, though these reasons look flimsy to others. So, they
conclude that it is better not to do anything worthwhile than attempt something
and raise society’s expectations!
3.
Indecisive
These children have serious
difficulty in identifying goals. They are not sure what they want. They neither
would like to borrow goals from others. They prefer to postpone their attempts
to do something rather than decide upon a specific task and go ahead with it.
4.
Lazy
Nothing else interests them,
energizes them, and satisfies them more than playing with their mobile or
computer. Even when they are given a specific task to do, they procrastinate
rather than engage with it. They even go to the extent of ascribing reasons for
their behavior. See how to overcome laziness when there is no interest in anything?
5.
Unreliable
These children make empty
promises that they neither remember nor intend to fulfill. Day by day, they
will be losing their trust and there is no way anyone can rely upon them. They
get angry for no reason and are willing to strain relationships.
6.
Reclusive
They withdraw from social
gatherings and provide some reason or the other, to keep themselves from
attending them. They even abhor normal interactions with family members and
friends. They prefer to isolate themselves and are ready to go without
fulfilling even basic needs.
They even have severe social
anxiety.
7.
Evasive
They are vague in their responses
and do not adhere to what they have assured of doing. They invent reasons to
avoid social gatherings and evade responsibility. One thing that stands out in
them is they try to escape from reality.
If parents or counselors find
even two out of the seven reasons, the child is getting into a
severe dependency. Thinking that one day it will become all right is quite
dangerous to the child’s mental health.
What is the solution?
There is no one-shot solution
to a problem that is deep-rooted in a disorganized personality. However, the
following pointers are provided to guide parents and counselors. Additionally,
teenagers themselves can try out any of these so that they can overcome their
dependency.
There is no need to try out
all of them, at once. Start with one change with which you feel comfortable,
enforce it, draw an action plan, and then proceed to another pointer.
- Assign tasks as responsibilities
- Attempt small tasks initially
- Avoid responding to anger
- Be proactive
- Consider barriers as challenges
- Convert complaints into actions
- Create aversion
- Develop emotional intelligence
- Develop interaction skills
- Develop patience
- Don’t compare with higher success
- Encourage communication skills
- Encourage involvement
- Encourage positive deeds
- Fix up goals
- Give scope for developing self-awareness
- Have action plans
- Identify real threats
- Ignore undesirable behavior
- Imitate those affected
- Learn about aspirations
- Learn assertiveness
- Learn to manage time
- Manage stressors
- Reduce expectations
- Remove conditions in achievements
- Replace fairness with frankness
- Resolve conflicts
- Overcome laziness
- Start introducing changes in small ways
- Tolerate frustration
- Train in social skills
- Try to earn the trust
- Withdraw harmful actions
- Withstand pressure
A new approach to understanding and
dealing with stress
Ebook on Befriending Stress – To Neutralize its Danger
Highlights of the Ebook
- Unique Insight into Stress and its Effects
- Neustress, Eustress, and Distress
- Pressure, Conflict, and Frustration
- Emotions and Stress
- 9 Chapters in 63 Pages
- 80 Pointers to Manage Everyday Stress
You can also purchase this ebook
directly from the author at over 50% discount rate of ₹200/-
by scanning the QR Code below and mentioning “Stress
221” as a note.
Thank you for your patience.
Please share this article with friends and relatives so that they can derive benefits from it.
Please do not include any spam links in the comment box.