Phone addiction: Girl plots parents' murder after mother snatches mobile
A 13-year-old girl in Ahmedabad, Gujarat reportedly plotted the murder of her parents after her mother snatched her phone and refused to give it back, The Times of India reported. Reportedly, the teenager's mother (45) dialed a helpline number after she found insecticide powder in a sugar container and phenyl-like liquid on the bathroom floor on more than one occasion.
Furious teenager wanted to harm her parents: Counselor
The girl wanted to harm her parents through insecticide-laced sugar or slippery bathroom floor, The Times of India reported, citing officials. "The mother had snatched her phone a few days ago and had refused to give it back. Since then, the girl had got violent," said a counselor at the Abhayam 181 women's helpline, which the mother was forced to dial after repeated incidents.
Parents were aghast over girl's excessive use of social media
According to the parents, their daughter would spend nearly the whole night on the phone, conversing with online pals, and spending time on social media viewing Reels or posts. It had considerably impacted her schoolwork and social life, which shocked them, prompting them to seize the phone. However, they had not expected an extreme reaction.
Rising trend of agitated teens due to phone addiction
The Abhiyam counselors said it was more shocking for the parents as the girl was a precious child born after 13 years of their marriage. However, they claimed many such cases come to them regularly. Abhayam coordinator Falguni Patel told TOI, "Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we would get barely 3-4 calls a day. In the past couple of years, it has increased three-fold."
What do experts say about such occurrences?
Psychiatrists and psychologists attribute the rise in such occurrences to the pandemic time when children had access to phones for academic purposes. Earlier, the children would frequently receive phone calls from their parents and would not spend hours on social media or other sites for fear of incurring their parents' anger. Teens' favorite hobbies, according to counselors, are online gaming and social networking.
