By N.U. Abdul Razzak Udayar, UAE
Is the mobile phone a luxury or a necessity?
The answer is a clear cut YES, as it has become the part and parcel of our life, particularly with the invasion of corona since 2019. Today it plays a dominant role in every aspect and field from air travel, food, medicine shopping, visiting kith and kin and importantly education. Our children and youngsters use it freely as virtual learning has become mandatory since schools are closed for a long time.
Can a child or a teenager use it sensibly like an adult?
Obviously, it is an open secret that they can easily get distracted in no time. Therefore careful Parental monitoring and observation is essential in order to get them not addicted to this latest gadget of the modern technology. From recently, there are a few media reports of unpleasant sporadic incidents related to mobile phone where children get affected due to the ill effects of this latest device of communication. Sadly there was a serious piece of news of tragedy that was telecast by Derana last night (25.08.2021). The village of Rotambe in Matara is weeping for the loss of a 15 year old teen ager who died by suicide as he was not allowed to use the mobile phone to play an army killer game. True to its name, it has snatched away the precious life of this brilliant student of Mahinda Rajapakasa Vidyalaya in Matara. Rightly, the Derana Reporter got the words straight from the horse’s mouth and it was revealed by the weeping mother of the victim that her beloved son, Senura Praboda Nipunage, who always comes first in the class of 40 students was excessively involved in a mobile phone game. It came to light that this 10th grader failed to attend the online educational activities that were conducted by his school. No sooner had the parents been informed about the absence of their son for the online learning activities, his mother took the step to keep this dreaded gadget away from him. Alas! Then the tragedy occurred sending shock waves throughout Matara. Hope against hope, the unlucky game addicted Senura irresponsibly died by suicide. As a responsible electronic media, it has exposed the reality that a substantial children of this village are addicted to a vicious shooting mobile phone game known as “Kill Army Game” that prompts the users to go for more killings to collect the “valuable “points. Another student who was addicted this killer gamer told Derana that he played this game to get more points via shooting. Two more mothers of Rotambe who lamented that their sons have become violent and keep on playing this game till 3 or 4 o’ clock in the morning when they were interviewed. It was also disclosed that when the mobile phone is not given these children have the tendency to hit the parents or dash the house hold items.
The psychiatrist, Dr. Room Ruben who was consulted by Derana advised the parents to take such kids and youngsters immediately to the counselors as they are addicted. The Rotambe incident is an eye opener for parents of all the youngsters of Sri Lanka as nowadays every child is armed with a smart mobile phone to attend the online educational activities. The parents and elders should keep an eye (both eyes) on their children whether they attend the educational session or get engaged in games and other unwanted activities. There is no excuse for any father, mother or the guardians to say that they have go no time for this supervision since they are at home most of the time as the corona compels them not to go out. Meanwhile, the concerned authorities should take immediate steps to rehabilitate the kids that are affected in Rotambe and other areas. Normally, it is a well-known fact that bad and violent thing spread like wild fire. Therefore, let us get ready with the effective extinguishers to put an end to this latest killer games and such other evils that go viral via the mobile phones.