new delhi the apex child rights body national commission for protection of child rights ncpcr in a study revealed that 592 per cent of children use their smartphones for instant messaging applications and only 101 per cent of children like to use smartphones for online learning and educationaround 592 per cent children use their smartphonesinternet devices for chatting using whatsappfacebookinstagramsnapchat while only 101 per cent of children like to use smartphones for online learning and education the study readtitled as the effects physical behavioural and psychosocial of using mobile phones and other devices with internet accessibility by children the study says that 302 per cent of children of all age groups have their own smartphonesthe report states it is also interesting to note that 302 per cent of the children of all age groups 8 to 18 years already possess their own smartphones and use the same for all purposessurprisingly 378 per cent of 10yearolds have a facebook account and 243 per cent of the same age group has an instagram accountthe trend line of the percentage of children using their own smartphones has shown a steep rise from the age of 13 years onwards however that of children using laptopstablets to access the internet is evidently stable across all agesthis can lead us to the deduction that parentsguardians are more willing to provide smartphones to their children from the ages of 1213 years onwards as against a laptop or tablet the study notesthe total number of responses collected was 5811 participants consisting of 3491 schoolgoing children 1534 parents and 786 teachers from 60 schools across six states in the countryit is a nationwide study of all regions east west north south and northeast regions with 15 locations selected across three areas 1000 respondents per region and stakeholders ie schoolchildren parents and teachersage distribution among all the children who participated in the study was also diverse with the mean age of the child participants being 1405 years the median was 14 yearsthe study reveals that there is a direct relationship between age and having a social media accountuse of mobile before sleeping leads to adverse impact on children like sleep disorders sleeplessness anxiety and tiredness etc it showswhile the study revealed that 7270 per cent of teachers had no prior experience of using smartphones around 541 per cent believe that the use of smartphones in the classroom is immensely or somewhat distractingexperts working for early detection and prevention of internet addiction at aiims behavioural addiction clinic suggest that parents supervision of their child is of paramount importance parents must introduce other life skills to children to ensure reduction in screen time the study