Moblie phone begins as a toy to keep children occupied and gradually becomes an addiction, said several teachers across schools.
The dependence on the phone has increased substantially after the pandemic. Now despite regular in-person classes, schools see the impact of overuse of the device spilling over into classrooms.
Children are disengaged from groups, they are acquiring an accent borrowed from YouTube videos, they are not interested in participating in activities or are unable to concentrate.
Teachers blame the phone for many such symptoms they see in class.
"The mobile phone starts as a toy to keep younger children occupied or as a device to keep track of a student's whereabouts. But gradually it becomes a need of the student," said Pratima Nayar, principal, junior school, Calcutta International School.
Students have access to sites where the content is not just age inappropriate but it encourages them to make fun of others publicly, she said.
In most schools, senior students have to deposit their phones and the occasional bag checks result in some devices being seized. But beyond the five or six hours in school, a student has full access to the device.
A Class XI student in a school got so engrossed in the activities on the phone that he started remaining absent from school. A Class V student was using his father's debit card to bet on online games.
A three-year-old during an admission interaction would not let her parents finish a sentence until the phone was handed over to her.
Such extreme instances are increasing, several schools said.
All schools spoke about the problem of lack of concentration among children.
"There are students who have no interest in any activity. The phone gets them used to bright, rapidly moving images and they find it hard to concentrate on anything like reading or even solving a puzzle," said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
Prasad said that one of the greatest fallouts has been the students' inability to remain engaged in a story-telling session.
Seema Sapru, principal of The Heritage School, said for some children it is "the student and the machine".
"They do not know how to behave in front of people. They are so used to the machine," said Sapru.
There are schools that conduct sessions with parents where they are told about how their children's overuse of gadgets is harming their concentration.
"The parents come to us for suggestions. We tell them that the children are being able to use the phone because they (parents) are paying the bills," said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls' School.
Adults have to set boundaries on phone usage themselves because a lot of children's behaviour is replication, said Nayar.
