Child cuddling is now being replaced by mobile phones. Discuss its impact on the socialisation of children.

The question “Child cuddling is now being replaced by mobile phones. Discuss its impact on the socialisation of children." was asked in the Mains 2023 GS Paper 1.  Let us look at the model answer to this question.

Answer:  Socialisation is the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. Child cuddling is one way to improve the socialisation of children.

Reasons for replacing child cuddling by mobile phones

• Working parents: In modern society, especially urban society, both parents are working, thus giving less attention to a child, and the child gains attention from mobile phones.
• Parents themselves are addicted to mobiles: The child imitates the parents; as the parents are busy with their mobile phones, the child is likely behaving.
• Changed responsibility: Play schools are taking responsibility for the primary socialisation of children, which historically was the parent’s.

Impact of Mobile Phones on the Socialisation of Children

• Virtual socialisation: The use of mobile phones creates virtual socialisation instead of physical socialisation, which is very important in the real world.
• Cognitive and comprehension skills: The continuous learning from mobile devices through videos hampers the imaginative abilities of a child. Thus, affecting cognitive skills which are important for both personality development as well as socialisation.
• Anxiety and communication: Doctors say there are proven facts that smartphone addiction in children develops anxiety and low self-esteem. In a few cases, very young children, i.e., ages from 2 years to 6 years develop communication problems.
  • As communication skills are not formed, a child is unable to express, which affects his/her emotional intelligence, largely affecting socialisation capabilities like making new friends
• Other serious issues: Serious issues other than communication and unresponsiveness are behavioural problems, addiction, sleep disturbances, eye problems etc, which hinders socialisation.
• Social values: The use of mobile phones leads to less development of social values but more of digital values.

We can say that at the family level, parents need to understand the importance of child cuddling. At the societal level, child healthcare through Anganwadi institutions and preschool education as prescribed in the new education policy should be promoted.