Cartoon characters pose growing dangers to children; experts urge parents to stay alert

Alert: If your child is watching the same cartoon for four hours, it can harm their mental health. Cases of device addiction among children are increasing, and doctors advise how to keep them away…

Alert for Parents: If your child is watching the same cartoon for four hours, it can harm their mental health. Daily, patients suffering from media addiction are reaching the mental department’s OPD.

Such children start imitating characters from cartoon shows and start behaving like them. This is called identification. In this, the child starts considering the virtual world as real and adopts the character’s behaviour and activities as their own. To prevent this, child guidance clinics are being set up at Gandhi Medical College.

These children are at greater risk

– Those whose both parents are working and cannot give them proper attention and affection.

– Those whose parents have frequent conflicts or disputes, due to which the child starts considering the real world as bad.

– Those who are bullied by their peers in school.

These three changes indicate you should be alert

● If the child imitates a character for only a few days, it’s not serious, but it’s essential to keep an eye on them.

● If the child has been imitating a character for weeks or months, then family members should try to understand the child themselves.

● If the child has been imitating a character for a long time and is behaving differently, then it’s necessary to take the help of a psychologist.

How to keep children away from device addiction

Children who are addicted to devices consider the virtual world as their life. Parents should engage them in social activities as much as possible.

Dr. JP Agarwal, Psychologist