oddlers addicted to smartphones are becoming more common than we’d like to admit. A two-year-old glued to a screen is no longer a rare sight. Unfortunately, some parents allow their children to be hooked to screens as soon as they can hold a set.

Most parents give phones to children out of affection - to keep them calm, settled and happy watching their favourite cartoons. Anytime the parents try to take away the phone from the child, a temper tantrum occurs. To avoid the situation, parents often hand the phone over as soon as the first tear is shed or a scream is heard. Many find it easier to have their children keep busy on phones almost excitedly, oblivious to the many terrible consequences it can have.

Here arises a question: is giving a cell phone to children responsible behaviour?

In a video clip, Dr Javed Iqbal, professor of surgery and Department of Medical Education (DME) director at Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur, was seen explaining the impact of cell phones on children. Pointing out the hazardous effects he says that children should not be given cell phones, especially those under seven years of age. He asserts that smartphone addiction is quite real. “If anybody asks me whether they should put a mobile phone in their children’s hands or an ember, I would say an ember is far less hazardous,” he adds.

Parents must avoid giving children phones before an appropriate age. Carelessness in this regard can have ever-lasting impacts and lead to anxiety and agitation; even depression.

Explaining the medical effects of smartphones, Dr Iqbal says that when we turn a cellular phone on, it is a micro-event. Every event of the kind creates pleasure that produces a chemical in the brain called dopamine. According to Harvard Medical Publishing, the feel-good neurotransmitter is responsible for making us feel pleasure as part of the brain’s reward system. It is also the hormone involved in reinforcement. The downside to dopamine is that it can add to the addictive properties of drugs and pleasure-inducing, mood lifting activities. To continue experiencing the high one first felt with the release of dopamine in the bloodstream, a person keeps coming back for more, says the doctor. The effect of dopamine on the brain’s receptors is temporary, creating a phenomenon where a person requires more and more dopamine as the number of receptors increases.

Elaborating on the harms of excessive mobile phone use, Dr Iqbal explains that smoking a cigarette does not produce as much as dopamine as a mobile screen produces in two to three minutes. Spending too long in front of a screen can make children irritable, says the doctor.

“Once, a four-year-old came to see me with her mother. The child said, I feel bored despite using a smartphone,” remembers Dr Iqbal.

Boredom should not be an issue children face, says the doctor. People should try to involve their children in healthy activities. Excessive production of dopamine in young brains cannot be helpful.

It is worrisome that some parents today lack awareness and training on handling their children and monitoring their activities, especially smartphone use.

Prof Dr Raana Malik, chairperson of the Department of Gender Studies at Punjab University, says that mobile phones are among the necessities of life today. However, they are addictive and can lead to childhood anxiety and affect children’s health and well-being. Giving smartphones to children is a terrible idea, she says.

Once parents used to give rattles to suckling children to stop them from weeping. Now many parents give them their mobile phones. Dr Malik says that monitoring of children’s smartphone use is virtually impossible. Parents, she says, must involve their children in physical activities, away from the world of active screens.

The government should create awareness among people about giving smartphones to very young children to save them from its adverse impacts. Awareness should also be created about encouraging children to take up physical activities and healthy pastimes.

The writer is a freelance contributor