Poets have become chefs; Parents play PUBG, watch cartoons
SHAZIA MASOOD
SRINAGAR, April 15: With the current lockdown over COVID-19 pandemic and the mandatory restrictions on the public movement, a drastic behavioural change is being witnessed across the world especially in Kashmir valley.
It is not only about round the clock news boom about deaths, chaos and confusion created by the deadly disease, but the closure of schools, shopping malls, restaurants, cinema halls, swimming pools, stadiums and all other recreational facilities have impacted the mind of children to a huge extent.
Remaining confined to four walls of homes have now compelled the parents to allow their children to remain glued to screens of television and mobiles. They prefer their wards to play indoor games, watch cartoons; play PUBG rather than venturing out and inviting invisible dangers for the whole family.
Similarly, people who have had never shown any inclination towards functioning of a kitchen are now being seen glued to YouTube channels, learning preparations for delicious recipes. Some people who would always feel nausea in libraries have started reading books and some even listening to audio books using their mobile phones. Those who would always ridicule poets have started writing poems on lockdown and the impact of Coronavirus and those who would feel indigestion without watching news have turned to movies.
Most of the school going children who otherwise also deem reading and writing as a boring exercise, have found a jackpot in COVID lockdown. They have been able to motivate and convince their parents for tantrums and not disrupting them from their day and night routine of playing mobile games especially PUBG which parents would sofar deem as a biggest enemy for their children.
Players Unknown’s Battlegrounds, known as PUBG is probably known to everybody by now. In this game 100 players enter a plane, landing on an island with the help of a parachute. Who are empty handed at first with the ordeal to get guns, grenades and objects with the sole purpose of survival and killing the opponents. The game put the battle Royale mode on the world map and with much success and fame throughout the world it made the young generation engaged.
Due to the pandemic and government enforced lockdown, parents considers PUBG as a good time pass ignoring all its side effects for their children. Despite, making their children busy with PUBG and letting them to remain inside, they hardly bother about its well researched side effects on their brains.
Experts have already declared this game as highly addictive leaving a person to become less social. By disrupting the sleeping pattern, it also promotes bad physical health as well as affects on mental health of the children. However, the parents are expected by the experts to engage their children in lively activities which can be accomplished while remaining inside their homes. What will be the impact of this lockdown on people is yet to be documented by the researchers but preliminary findings suggest that the impact of Coronavirus on mental health of the people across the world will send shivers down the spine of everyone once the lockdown is completely over and the disease becomes curable.
