How can children be less attached on their mobile phones and be inspired to use that time for devotion to God? How can parents support their children in doing so?
We hand over our mobile phones to little children. Sometimes mothers are busy with their chores and do not have time to look after their children, so they give their phones to children to play games.
We should keep children away from mobile phones as much as possible although I understand this is difficult, but it is best for them. I have seen children get easily bored with toys no matter how good the toys are. One week is the most they will spend time with these toys. On the contrary, they never get bored of playing on mobile phones.
At a small age, mobile might become the reason for the beginning of many health-related issues. Though there is some controversy on this, plenty of research is being carried out currently. Even then, one thing is definite that it is beneficial to keep small children away from mobile phones as much as possible, even though it is difficult. At a certain age when they get older, children who used to play with their father’s or mother’s mobile phone want mobile phones of their own. This is fine, but before giving them the mobile, it is very important to give them the understanding and wisdom of how to use it.
Children spend more time nowadays on their phones than watching TV. Everything is there on your mobile device. It is fine if you use the mobile phone, but when mobile phones start using you, when it starts hugely eating into your time, it also becomes the reason for mental health problems. Without any reason, a person will keep checking their mobile phones and surfing on social media constantly. People are seated in the katha pavilion, arrived to listen to kathas, but they are not attentive in Katha, I observe such people. They keep busy with their mobile phones.
Mobile phone is the reason why children in urban areas are becoming sleep deprived. They have started cutting down on their sleep. Lack of sleep damages your memory greatly. Due to less sleep, the appetite reduces. Ultimately, your energy remains low. This in return reduces enthusiasm and when enthusiasm reduces you become uninterested in doing many things. You do not like to study and eventually things start getting worse.
So mobile is a good thing. We cannot oppose that and they are needed in the current times. But before handing over the mobile, it is necessary to teach children how to use it appropriately, to what extent, and in which places.
It is not necessary to quit using a mobile phone, but at least one can think of decreasing its use. My children, you might not be interested in devotion but if you do your studies with dedication then that also is devotion. Concentrate on your studies.
Many devices give you weekly reports on your screen time. They show you that last week you used your phone for so many hours and this week it has increased or decreased by 2 hours for instance. It provides all this information so that you can make any decisions or improvements you desire.
Technology is amazing, provided we use it wisely. So people who are interested in devotion, should spend time in spiritual practices and those who are interested in something else, can also reduce the number of hours spent on mobile and utilize that time for reading, studying or even playing. Just go out and play. Spend some time with nature. Go to the jungles, gardens, sit at a riverbank. If you are living in a flat then go out and sit in the balcony, go out of the home, sit under the shade of a tree and watch the birds chirping on it. Listen to them. Watch the birds singing sweet songs. When was the last time you watched the open sky at night? Our Rishis taught us astronomy by observing the sky.
Thus, understand when, how and how much to use your mobile phone. Spend some time with nature and family. We have started living in the virtual world so much that we have thousands of friends virtually, we are connected with the whole world, but we are disconnected from our families. That should not be the case. It is necessary to understand and implement how to use our mobile phones wisely.