By Nayak Paudel
Morang, June 22: When local youths reach the playground of Bhagirath Higher Secondary School in Ward 4 of Pathari Shanishchare Municipality, they rarely see children playing there.
The youth remember the time when the playground used to be filled with children and they used to be one of them. Those children, who now are a little older, see same faces in the ground like the old days but seldom see new faces of children.
“When I used to go to the playground in Bhagirath School for playing football more than a decade ago, the ground used to be filled with players similar to my age. Now, when I am still going to the playground to play, I see same faces from years back but children and adolescents are hardly there,” said Arjun Rai, a 21-year-old, from Ward 9 of Pathari Shanishchare Municipality.
Despite being a child, Rai used to play with elders and even played in local level games alongside senior players while he was around 15. But the recent scenario is not what he expected to be like.
“While I played with the seniors either football or cricket despite being in my early adolescence period, there were many others like me. As a child then, I hoped to see many new talented children in the similar way when I turned a little old, but I hardly witness children outdoors these days,” Rai exclaims.
The reason behind less number of children coming outdoors and spending time playing games is linked with the easy access of children to technologies such as smartphones and internet.
Along with technologies, youths share a view that the way parents feel relief with their child not going outdoors is another major reason.
“Children nowadays are mostly into technologies. Moreover, the parents being okay with their children sitting and playing with mobile or watching TV discourages the children to go outdoors,” said Sagar Bhattarai, a 24-year-old, from Ward 4 and a friend of Rai since childhood.
Rai and Bhattarai have been friends for more than two decades and have played many sports together; the duo still play football and cricket.
According to the duo, there used to be distraction from technology during their childhood as well but they still found a way to go out and play.
“Our distraction was TV, though it did not have many channels then. However, our routine constituted of a little TV watching and more time to play outdoors,” said Rai.
As the technologies have grabbed even youths like Rai and Bhattarai along with children and people of other ages, the duo believe being able to set apart time for everything can make it easy to be outdoors and back on the playgrounds.
“Like children, we also have access to smartphones and internet. We also play games in smartphone but still allocate some time to go outdoors and play. If no sports, there is still an option of running. But for children, it is only smartphones,” Rai added.
The youths are astonished to see how fast technology grabbed the children like nothing else within a short period of time.
Nevertheless, it is not only the outdoor sports, children nowadays are not even involved in any form of physical work or activity.

“Even as a child, I knew the importance of remaining physically fit. Other than playing outdoors, I used to be busy in the fields helping my parents, who are farmers,” said Bhattarai, who added, “Playing outdoor sports is a remote possibility for children now. They don’t come out of their house even for a walk. Despite being an educated generation of children, they still don’t know the importance
of remaining physically fit.”
As per Bhattarai, he even used to play karate and did exercises himself because a day without proper physical activity would lead his body to be extremely lazy.
The lack of physical activity has been associated with adverse effects on one’s health and involves major risks for various non-communicable diseases. Along with impeding physical activity of children, remaining indoors also limits a child’s exposure to sun. A child cannot learn skills such as plan, prioritise, troubleshoot, negotiate and multitask; a child would fear taking risks; a child would not learn socialisation and to work together in a team; a child would never understand the beauty and importance of nature. “Children should be motivated to go outdoors for playing or at least exercising in order to remain physically fit and learn about the outer world rather than sitting inside four walls with smartphone,” said Bhattarai.