Kids need to read books… plenty of them

When your child curls up in a corner of the sofa with a mobile in hand oblivious of all that’s happening around, you would think it’s an easy way to keep kids engaged rather than have them pester you amid your many chores of the day. But is this the best way to ensure quality time for kids while keeping their books and notes at a safe distance on the table rack?

On Sunday, chairperson of Infosys Foundation and writer Sudha Murty made a significant observation while speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Jaipur Lit Fest – “Motivate children to read till 14, leave it to them after that.” Ms Murty also admitted that it was not easy to bring up children in today’s environment, especially after Covid when schools made it mandatory for them to attend online classes, and added that it would affect their eyes in the long run, with their attention span coming down.

The shift from the good old ways of studying by reading books, to getting it all from gadgets like the mobile, has been happening for quite some time and there are many who now consider reading textbooks old-fashioned. But there are enough studies that have pinpointed the resultant problems when children particularly those below ten prefer the mobile – there is a lack of interest in real-life activity and even games, eating habits may suffer, socialising takes a big hit and there is an effect on the eyes after poring for hours and hours on the little screen.

The mobile and Internet no doubt offer a wondrous world of exciting info in a nutshell; there is no need to pore over pages of print and all you have to do is to key in the right question and click on the right buttons to get the details in a jiffy. There are amazing picture choices and info that could keep your eyes riveted on the mobile for hours. For grownups and even teenagers set to exit from school, a fetish for the mobile is understandable, for they would know when to switch off and cut out unneeded info.

But that does not apply to kids for whom the cell phone is more of a toy that offers them an amazing range of possibilities – good or bad– which is a bit worrisome at an age when they can hardly distinguish between the right from the wrong, the needed and unneeded, the truth and falsehood. And it is extremely difficult for parents to keep a watch on every bit of info their little ones are scrutinising on the mobile. So how do parents make sure that kids do their share of reading books and build up a base of knowledge that will help them in later years when they have to rewind and recollect information so needed for studies?

For one, parents will have to involve kids in activities other than being glued to their mobile and maybe set a daily schedule for time spent on the phone. A close watch on what kids are surfing on the Net, is something parents will have to do for the sake of their future. Checks and controls seem to be the more viable option rather than imposing a full ban on mobile use that seems impossible in an age when gadgets rule the world.

“Reading maketh a full man”, wrote English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon but in modern times, it has to happen more from books and texts than a mobile, particularly in the case of kids so that they keep exercising their brains, add to their repertoire of knowledge and do not become gadget-dependent all their lives.