IS YOUR CHILD TRAPPED IN A DIGITAL ABYSS?

Outsmarting parents, children are exploring a dark space online. The risks are perilous Younger kids with a device of their own, connected to the internet, are at risk of digital addiction. In extreme cases, kids can cause self-harm and display psychotic behaviour.

- Sayantan Bera

One evening, last summer, a father in his mid-50s walked into a psychiatric facility in Kolkata with his 12-year-old daughter. He climbed two flights of stairs to reach a wide, air-cooled corridor where a crowd was waiting. What took him by surprise was the age profile of the patients. Of the 40 or so he counted, 25 were children. While waiting his turn, he saw an 8-year-old going around, pleading, almost begging others, for a smartphone to play games. The child’s parents refused him theirs.

“I will not be able to forget that sight," the parent of the 12-year-old said over phone.

Then he shared the story of his daughter. The child was handed a smartphone in mid-2020 after the covid pandemic hit and a lockdown was announced. The mother, a school teacher, used the family laptop for online classes. The father traveled out of the city on work, most days of the week. There was no option but to give the child a device to attend classes. She was overjoyed. But no one monitored her online activity.

A year and a half later, the parents noticed some unusual changes. She had lost interest in singing, painting, and reading, hobbies she once loved. Her words were aggressive. She was on multiple social media channels gratifying her craving for Korean pop music. Alongside, she was part of chat rooms on a platform named Discord, where she engaged with strangers. Swear words were used with abandon. In some groups, explicit sexual content, including pornographic material, were shared.

Discord is an online platform where users can communicate via text, audio and video. The platform is popular with children as it allows them to bypass parental monitoring. Anyone can open an account but an invite is required to join a group. Since all content is user-generated and private, the platform is high-risk, by design.

“I feared the worst. What if a pedophile is stalking my child?" the father asked.