Nagpur: A boy often gets unrestricted access to technology than a girl. However, the choice of websites and content viewed online stems different issues faced by the youngsters today. While boys tend to visit explicit and highly stimulating content, the girls mostly use internet for interaction and socializing purposes, said Neha Salankar, a child psychiatrist, on Saturday.Addressing a workshop organized by NK Academy, Koradi Road, on ‘Effects of internet on teenagers’, Dr Salankar said, “In boys, the concept of ‘marathon gaming’ is quite popular where they play video games on internet for hours at a stretch. This practice not only desensitizes them but also leads to low level of concentration. There have been deaths due to excessive gaming and this goes into telling how hazardous internet is, if unsupervised.”Salankar emphasized on the perverse effects of overexposure of technology on children and how parents can play a primary role in avoiding internet misuse. “Internet adversely affects the creative skills and lifestyle of teenagers. In a phase of life where children already feel lethargic and isolated, excessive use of internet affects their social skills,” she said.“When young people, mostly girls, post pictures or seductive ‘selfies’ online while sexting, they are validating themselves to the opinion of others. But, they need to be told that internet is not a safe platform for such pictures as these can be misused and the youngsters can be a victim of cyber bullying,” Salankar said. ‘Sextortion’ is a way of blackmailing females into providing their alluring pictures, she added.Addressing ‘body shaming issues in adolescents’, the psychiatrist said, “The ‘millennials’ have set certain standards of beauty which is being propagated. Although casually, we provide children with a negative outlook towards our body which is unacceptable. Because it leads to body acceptance issues in them from a very early age. This is further worsened when teenagers resort to various online apps to adhere to these standards.”(Reporting by Bhagyashree Kashyap)ends

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