DSEJ, Medanta Hospital host webinar on “Impact of increased screen time on Physical, Mental health”

Jammu: To aware children about the negative impact of increased screen time on them amid COVID-19 pandemic, Directorate of School Education Jammu in collaboration with Medanta Hospital Gurugram organized a webinar on “Impact of increased screen time on Physical and Mental health”.
Director School Education Jammu, Anuradha Gupta, was the Chief Guest, while Dr. Supdito Pakarasi, Chairman Ophthalmology Division Gurugram and Ishita Bhatt Clinical Psychologist at Medanta Hospital were the key resource persons.
The webinar received an overwhelming response from the audience benefitting thousands of participants, who watched the programme live on the Facebook page of Counseling cell, DSEJ and on other social media platforms.
The Director School Education Jammu, while speaking on the occasion, expressed her gratitude towards the resource persons from Medanta Hospital Gurugram for sparing their valuable time to guide the students, their parents and teachers about reducing the negative impact of increased screen time. She said that there will be more such collaborations with professional institutes like Medanta to benefit the large human resource in the school education department. She further directed the Counselling Cell DSEJ to prepare an advisory based on the discussions held during the webinar for the benefit of the student and teachers in particular and society in general.
Dr. Sudipto Pakrasi threw light on the negative impacts of increased screen time like change in posture, problems in blood circulation, and change in sleep-wake up cycle, dryness in eyes, decrease in blinking time, psychological impact, and also suggested few techniques to decrease the negative impact like 20-20 rule, outdoor activities, proper posture, regular checkups and healthy balanced diet.
Responding to the queries, he gave tips to decrease the negative impact of screen time, WHO recommended screen time as per age groups, use of anti-glare specs, etc.
Dr. Ishita Bhatt, Clinical Psychologist, talked about various negative mental health impacts of increased screen time like internet addiction, anxiety, insomnia, gaming addiction and behavioural issues. She also suggested some techniques for reducing internet addiction and increasing focus and concentration.
The session was moderated by Romesh Sharma Head counselling Cell DSEJ. He ensured the audience to organize webinars on similar relevant issues. He requested all the members of the psychological task force to carry forward the message of this webinar to each and every student, teacher and parent.
Sudanshu Sharma from Medanta hospital Gurugram coordinated the organization of the event. Sohail Wani DRG Doda provided technical support for the conduct of the session. All the DNOs at DIETS, District counselling coordinators and whole Psychological task force members facilitated the organization of the webinar. Alka Sharma, member team counseling cell DSEJ presented a formal vote of thanks.