Pune: Screen time robs eyesight, triggers obesity in children

PUNE: Prolonged screen exposure has brought along with it a fresh set of health problems for students, including eyesight issues, obesity, backaches and headaches being reported. Lack of physical activities has led to weight-gain among children, prompting several parents to get gym equipment to keep their kids active at home.
Teachers and parents both say these troubles mainly crop up amid students in higher age groups, from Std VII.
Preeti Lahoti, a parent, said, “Children are confined to their homes now and it impacts them. My son had to be taken to the doctor as he was putting on tremendous weight. Now, he is on a diet plan.”
Another parent said her son’s screen time has increased to nearly 12 hours — eventually, he had to be taken to the doctor to remedy his poor vision. She said, “His eyeglasses prescription number is very high. Doctors said his screen exposure time, which was just a couple of hours earlier, has increased hugely, leading to poor eyesight. We are very cautious now and try to engage him in different activities not requiring electronic devices.”
Child specialist Arvind Ghodegaonkar said, “ Parents are bringing children with complaints like backaches to lethargy and even severe depression. So, we suggest that parents keep them active, ask them to cycle on the society premises for 30-40 minutes, find some ways to keep themselves engaged, take a walk, skip rope on the terrace or be involved in other activities that energise.” He added that the only medicine for such health issues is to keep children engaged.
Several schools across the city are also undertaking initiatives to help, and adapting children to e-schooling. Damini Joshi, principal of Sanskriti School, said, “We have physical education classes conducted regularly for our students, and also have a wellness team that keeps organising sessions on topics like stress and time management.”
At Podar International School in Chinchwad, when parents started complaining of screen addiction issues, the management tackled it by organising various sessions on eye care, conducted by the school nurse. School principal Shehnaz Cottar said, “We are educating our students on how proper distance can be maintained from gadgets. We also taught them eye relaxation techniques and splashing of cool fresh water on one’s eyes, which has proved useful.”
Secondary coordinator at HDFC School Pune, Pooja Rai, said they regularly conduct ‘circle time’, wherein class teachers interact with students; here, discussions on health and hygiene have always taken centre stage. “Family fitness sessions were also conducted to bring in a healthy culture. Activities and projects related to health and hygiene spread awareness amongst students. Std VII students prepared meal plans for teenagers and had a classroom discussion on the same. Std VIII prepared an elaborate project on Sustainable Development Goal – Zero Hunger,” she said.