Monday, 12 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Encouraging children, especially those who are two to three years old in the activity of making or featuring in reels and short videos for social media hampers their natural growth, the experts here said. Despite this, many parents claim that exposing their young children, aged two to four years, to reels helps build their self-confidence at a very early age. However, experts emphasised that forcing infants to engage in activities like making reels may lead to mobile phone addiction in the future. For the proper growth of children, parents should keep their infants away from mobile phones and social media, the experts said.
A parent Monisha Chauhan, who has a one-year-old daughter, said that she enjoys showcasing her daughter to others through social media. She believed that by making reels, her daughter’s self-confidence would be boosted, which would benefit her in the future. Additionally, she encourages her children to develop skills such as acting, singing and dancing to make reels rather than simply get bored, she said.
Another parent Tarun Anand said that the advent of Instagram and the creation of reels has had a positive impact on children’s self-confidence. He also noticed a decrease in stage fright among children as a result. In light of this, Anand has even involved his three-year-old son in creating reels, believing that it will benefit him in his future career indirectly, he said.
Clinical psychologist Pratibha Sharma told this correspondent that she has also come across numerous instances where parents are pushing their infants into the world of reels for social media. She warns that this practice of forcing children to portray a false image for the sake of gaining fame and earning income which can lead to phone addiction, hinder their natural growth and have detrimental effects on their mental and physical well-being.
She further emphasised the significance of exercise at a small age but expressed concern over its decline due to the growing prevalence of social media and mobile phone addiction. She urged parents to comprehend the importance of this matter and actively discourage their children from engaging in excessive use of social media.
