Uttar Pradesh: CM Yogi Adityanath Warns Against Excessive Smartphone Use Among Children, Urges Parents To Reduce Screen Time | VIDEO

Gorakhpur, July 29: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has cautioned parents about the harmful effects of excessive smartphone use among children. He stated, "Children are spending five to six hours of their valuable time on smartphones. This is weakening their eyesight, reducing their ability to think, and causing them to suffer from stress and depression. At times, they even take suicidal steps."

The CM appealed to parents to begin with themselves in order to avoid excessive smartphone use and said that, by gradually reducing the time spent on smartphones, an effort should be made to refrain from using them for one full day a week.

Addressing the Guru Purnima Mahotsav and the conclusion of the seven-day Shri Ram Katha organized at Gorakhnath Temple on Wednesday, the Chief Minister highlighted the Guru-Shishya tradition and also cautioned against the dangers arising from excessive smartphone use. CM Yogi stated, “What will be the result of parents giving smartphones to small children, only God knows. But, in my opinion, such parents are not doing the right thing.”

CM Yogi stated that instead of finding solutions, "we have become occupied with problems. If we believe in solutions, we will find ways forward. Parents themselves would have to begin within the family to protect children from the harmful effects of smartphones. There should certainly be one day a week when you do not use a smartphone. This can be done in the same way as some people observe a day of silence once a week. The world functioned even when smartphones did not exist, and in fact, it was healthier then. There was no stress, depression, or conflict."

He advised parents to provide children with good content and sit together with the family and converse.

He said the entire world tries to understand India's festivals with curiosity and wonder. In the Sanatan tradition, the date of Ashadh Purnima, the sacred birth anniversary of Maharshi Ved Vyas, has been adopted as Guru Purnima. Krishna Dwaipayana Ved Vyas Ji made the greatest contribution towards making the Vedic and Puranic traditions accessible to all. The work of putting the four Vedas into written form began under his guidance 5,000 years ago.

He added, "Guru Purnima is a sacred festival to express gratitude towards India's Sanatani Guru tradition. Only the Guru who gives initiation is not a Guru. Every person from whom we learn something has a role as a Guru. This includes parents, elder brothers and school teachers. To face the challenges before the country and society, all of them will have to discharge their responsibilities in the role of a Guru."

CM Yogi stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji has given global recognition to yoga, the legacy of India's knowledge tradition. In this context, World Yoga Day is observed on June 21. The postures of yoga reflect the forms of several animals and creatures and also demonstrate their distinctive qualities. India's Rishi tradition researched these distinctive qualities. India's Sanatan culture carried out the task of preserving innovation, research, and knowledge on a large scale by documenting it through the oral tradition.

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Referring to the campaign being undertaken at the national level to preserve ancient manuscripts, the Chief Minister informed, "Uttar Pradesh is the greatest repository of the country's ancient knowledge centers. India's knowledge tradition is being preserved through manuscripts, copper plates, coins and relics. The largest number, running into lakhs, of manuscripts, copper plates and coins have been recovered from Uttar Pradesh alone. Large numbers of manuscripts have been found in districts including Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura, Vrindavan, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Unnao."

Referring to the ongoing digitization of manuscripts at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, the CM stated that the university has one lakh manuscripts. It is necessary to preserve the heritage of knowledge received from our ancestors and Rishi-Munis. If we do not preserve this heritage, the world will steal it and attempt to suppress us using our own knowledge.

CM Yogi further informed, "Since ancient times, this country has existed as ‘Ek Bharat’. For thousands of years, caste, forms of worship, food habits, lifestyles and attire may have been different in India, but in spirit and sentiment, the whole of India has remained one, from Mount Kailash to Kanyakumari. Mount Kailash also tells us how far India once extended. If India had not been one, how could Adi Shankaracharya have established Peeths at the four corners?"

He continues by saying that during the intervening period, political distortions attempted to fragment the country. Malicious attempts were made against India in the name of casteism and regionalism, but India became independent after fighting against all of them. Every citizen will have to come forward to discharge their responsibility to build ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.

The Chief Minister stated that India has to move forward through its own strength. We must remember that the existence of the individual and society itself depends on the existence of the nation. All Sanatan festivals are the result of one transformative and significant event or another. Along with conveying a message, these festivals connect every person in society with one another without discrimination. Sanatan culture has regarded its festivals as celebrations rather than merely as history.”

The Chief Minister shared a memory from the Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav of the Shri Ram Temple and stated that people from different parts of the country had brought soil and water from rivers for the event. Not only this, Sri Lanka's Ambassador brought soil from Ashok Vatika. He had told us that the people of Sri Lanka are also overwhelmed by the Pran Pratishtha of the Shri Ram Temple.