Teen ends life after father chides him for playing online games
KEONJHAR/BHUBANESWAR: A 13-year-old boy committed suicide by hanging himself after his father scolded him for playing online games on his cellphone in Keonjhar district. Psychiatrists said parents need to intervene in children’s online behaviours early to prevent possible addiction.
Family members found the body of the boy hanging in the toilet on Friday morning in Kamarjoda village under Joda police station, around 60 km from Keonjhar town. Sources said the boy, a Class VIII student, was always playing online games on his cellphone given to him by his father for online classes.
Binod Apat, father of the deceased, on Friday came to know that his son has lost Rs 91,000 by playing an online game. The boy had used the bank account information of his parents. Apat had scolded him for wasting the money, sources added.
Later, Apat found the body of his son hanging inside the toilet. The family members took the boy to a private hospital at Joda where he was declared dead. After receiving information, local police recovered the body and sent it for autopsy.
Raisen Murmu, inspector-in-charge of Joda police station, said “Postmortem has been done after registering an unnatural death case at Joda police station.”
Lagnajit Dash, neuropsychiatrist in SUM Hospital, said internet gaming disorder is like an addiction. Because of this, a person doesn’t show interest in other works and gets addicted to gaming only. “As the boy lost a huge amount of money and got scolded by his father, the fear, shame and guilt feeling might have driven him to take the extreme step,” he added.
Dash said parents need to keep an eye on children’s online behaviours early to prevent possible addiction. “Mobile use of children should be regulated by the parents. They should evaluate the internet and mobile use regularly,” he added.
Psychiatrist S N Parida said the teenagers do not know the negative impact of online gaming. “When the boy lost the money online, the father scolded him. The boy must have thought that the scolding has harmed his self-respect. The worthlessness thought might have triggered him to commit suicide,” he added.
He said parents can counsel children when the kids are in a good mood. “If you impose restrictions immediately by applying force, the child might get rebellious. Parents can make the teenagers understand about the bad impact of online gaming addiction,” he added.