Try out the Bengaluru Teen Tanvi’s 1HrChallenge to Fight the Instagram Addiction.

Smartphones need smart users.

Steve Jobs himself didn’t let his kids have the privilege of smartphones. Control the phone smartly before it takes control. It seems to be affecting the young and the old and especially the pre-teens, teens and the college-goers who are so helpless.

Tanvi fell prey.

Tanvi who is a 13 YO student too fell prey and started an Instagram account a year ago to keep up with the Joneses. Then on, all she did was click pics, post instantly, like and follow strangers and the number grew up to an unbelievable 400 followers within less than a year. Quite lost in the virtual world literally and even 24 hours were not enough.

 

What happened next?

Tanvi was just not feeling fresh and energetic as there was no disciplined way of life. Sleep late, barely able to wake up to school, rush eating a bit and feel obviously drowsy in school, lethargic to play a sport, read a book, kept aloof from family and friends, everything around seemed boring and uninteresting.

 

Startling incident

Then suddenly one of her friend’s FB account was hacked and the hacker had cheekily posted morphed pics and then it became unbearable and ugly. If this can happen to a friend it can happen to her as well thought Tanvi.

Help Needed.

Sense dawned on this little girl to get away from this destructive Instagram media and called out for help from her Mom Keerthana Mainkar who came to her rescue. Tanvi first started deleting all her Instagram followers who were strangers and unfriending her FB friends and stopped accepting friendly requests from strangers. Then comes the Smart Mom who installed an App on Tanvi’s phone to monitor the number of hours spent on various Apps and also on her little brother’s phone to restrict gaming applications. Despite desperately wanting to be helped, she was far too addicted to give up and the siblings were smarter and somehow found a way out.

Drop in the scores did the trick.

When the academic scores kept dropping from 80% to 50% that’s when she had to take a call and learn to be a responsible user. Tanvi started with her #1HrChallenge and stayed away for just one hour. She slowly and surely overcame and Tanvi now is on a mission to inspire others to stay away from the deadly harmful gadgets.

Parents and elders watch-out for the symptoms...Withdrawing from parents and elders, wanting to be alone, not wanting to go to school or college, not able to do without the phone even for a minute, bathroom browsing, dazed look, feel lazy, low energy levels, not wanting to socialise, not willing to help in the household chores, no appetite, getting rude or violent when the phone is taken away or restrictions put, sleep very late, no interest in moving out for a physical activity, concentration levels low, scores dropping etc.,

Tanvi’s simple Remedy

Who doesn’t agree or know ?......Tanvi's  #1HrChallenge tells the users to keep off the smart phones for just 60 minutes a day to begin with and pursue a different activity – like play a physical game, board game, cook a delicious recipe, read a book, take a walk or cycle, join some music, dancing, theatre, gardening, sewing, painting classes, serve in the community, help in the house hold chores etc.,,  Then slowly increase it to 2 hours and so on and one will be pleasantly surprised how life can change for the better.

External help.

If parents and the kids are still not able to learn the smart way to smart phones; then there is a serious problem and external help is the way to go. Recently Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma professor of clinical psychology at Nimhans Bangalore and a co-ordinator of Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) explains about the Dopamine fasting which he calls it digital fasting - has helped many to overcome the problem. Briefly – just giving up any activity that gives you pleasure – phone, food, chocolates, sex, friends, coffee, tea etc.,

Road to the UN.

Tanvi has turned into an 1M1B (1 Million For 1 Billion), aligned with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals. Tanvi has been chosen by the UN headquarters to present a paper on social-media addiction this year.