Parents, will you do this for your children on Nov 20?

'We hope to make parents aware that it takes only a few minutes in a day to be with your children so that they feel they are the most important person at that time.'

Both adults and children getting addicted to gadgets -- more so during the pandemic -- is no longer news.

It is to make parents aware of the importance of spending time with their children that an organisation called ParentsCircle has come out with a #GadgetFreeHour campaign on November 20 (World Children's Day), from 7.30-8.30 pm.

The campaign asks parents to disconnect themselves from their gadgets during this one hour and spend time with their children -- playing, talking or eating with them.

The 2020#GadgetFreeHour campaign received support from around 10 million parents and more than 40,000 schools.

ParentsCircle expect 50 million people to participate this year from all over the country.

Nalina Ramalakshmi, founder and managing director, ParentsCircle, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier why it's important for parents to make this decision.

Did any particular incident inspire you to start this campaign?

I wouldn't say any particular incident inspired us.

At Parents Circle, we have Dr Nithya Poornima and Dr Jamuna as advisors from NIMHANS. In one of our discussions on the issues affecting children these days, they said parents need to spend more time with their children. They also pointed out that gadgets came in the way of interactions between parents and children.

That was how the idea to have a campaign that would create awareness about the importance of spending time with children without gadgets interfering was born.

We launched our first #GadgetFreeHour campaign in 2019 as we felt a 'one hour free of gadgets' target is do-able.

How did people respond?

It was in October 2019 that we first decided to call for a #GadgetFreeHour on November 14. What better day could we have for the campaign?

Our target was to touch 1 million parents.

Before we knew it, we had the education departments of the governments of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry joining the campaign.

In fact, many schools from all over India also participated by taking up the campaign as their own. That, we thought, was a very positive outcome.

Some restaurants also joined in; they said they had seen parents engrossed with their gadgets even when eating out. They offered discounts to parents if they remained without their gadgets during our one hour and enjoyed the food with their children.

We were happy to have more and more people from various walks of life joining the campaign. After all, our aim is to spread awareness and we exceeded our target.

After the first campaign, did any of the parents tell you how they felt about the one hour with their children, without any gadgets between them?

One family told me it was the first time in three years they had spent time together without any interference!

We got similar responses from many families and every response was positive. This made us realise the task we were attempting was indeed a good one.

The campaign was a wake-up call for many parents. We cannot blame parents as gadgets are a new experience for everyone.

No parent was doing it deliberately but they are unaware of the impact it has on children.

It is said that, during the pandemic, both adults and children have become more addicted to gadgets...

I would say the pandemic has made them spend more time with gadgets out of necessity.

We are not saying gadgets are bad or technology is bad; in fact it is a boon. Technology has made life easier for all of us.

Children continued to learn during the pandemic due to gadgets and technology. Adults worked from home and companies continued to function, all thanks to technology.

All we are saying is that there is a time for technology.

You mean people are losing out on human interaction which is essential for their well-being?

If you don't make the time for human interaction, it will harm you.

From the time you wake up till you go to sleep, if you are on a gadget, it will affect your well-being.

If you make a conscious effort to make time to interact with family members without gadgets interfering, you can overcome the problem. For example, you can make rules like no using gadgets while eating, no gadgets in the bedroom, etc.

There was a time parents used to say no reading books while eating...

Yes. Too much of anything without social interaction impacts the well-being of an individual.

What helps a child remain confident is the loving memories of the times spent with his/her parents. That will help the children come back to their parents when they need support.

The pandemic has aggravated the situation. Before it happened, children had the luxury of spending time with other children and teachers in school.

The reality today is that every family member remains in their room, in a virtual world, with the door shut...

Absolutely. When that happens, the child also loses out on personal interaction as they cannot go to school or hang out or play with their friends.

Today, children have become all the more dependent on parents and their interactions with parents have become more critical.

That means your #GadgetFreeHour campaign is more special this year....

Exactly. We hope to make parents aware that it takes only a few minutes in a day to be with your children so that they feel they are the most important person at that time.

Imagine how a child would feel if you start talking on your phone and forgot that you were playing with him/her, that you were building a castle with him/her?

What are your expectations for the campaign this year?

We want to take our campaign nationwide. We are reaching out to as many schools and as many organisations as possible through radio, TV and other media outlets.

The aim is to highlight the importance of spending time with children.

So, parents, on November 20, which is World Children's Day, switch off your gadgets between 7.30-8:30 pm and spend time with your children and family without any distractions.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com