FRIGHT MODE: When ‘monster’ mobiles mess up young minds...

For over a month, the parents of a 14-year-old boy in Jam Khambhalia couldn’t fathom why their son remained so tense. When asked, he revealed that his gaming ID had been hacked by a 17-year-old online ‘friend’ who was now demanding a ransom of Rs 1.50 lakh to not leak it, said a police officer. Similar cases have been reported in Rajkot, too, he said, adding, “We had not come across such crimes before. The 14-year-old kid displayed excessive possessiveness towards the game and kept threatening to end his life if the ID was not retrieved.”

In times when teens share a complex relationship with technology, it is proving difficult for them to differentiate between the smartphone as a vital tool and a cause of addiction. Over-dependence on gadgets leading to phubbing (‘phone snubbing’ — prioritizing phone over people), that may have been triggered during the pandemic to beat boredom, is taking an ugly turn. It is morphing into a mental health beast that parents, police and experts are battling to control.