By Dr AK Srivastava
By gambling we lose both our time and treasure: two things most precious to the life of man.
Owen Feltham
It is impossible to trace the beginning of gambling. The desire to earn an enormous amount of money in a little time is the main driving force behind all sorts of gambling. But those who indulge in gambling ignore the possibility or high risk of losing money. They only see one side of the coin. People put their money, assets, reputation, etc., at stake to earn a jackpot. Gambling has always been more common or popular among grown-up people. But unfortunately, it has become very popular among adolescents and youth now-a-days. In recent years, the spread of science and technology, social media and availability of internet has attracted our young generation towards online gambling.
Unfortunately, gambling has become a status symbol among affluent adolescents. They indulge in gambling to socialise, relax and earn easy money. All this attracts them to the world of illusion, and they get distracted from the realities of life. Today mobile phones are like a favourite toy in everyone’s hands and its screen is full of such Apps which invite us to play numerous games. Most of the people try to convince themselves that they are going to play it just once or twice but once started it never stops automatically like any other addiction. Online gambling is one of the major social evils of recent times. It has devastating influence on numerous families. It has become a global problem, and we need to stop it.
If people win some money at the initial stage, then there is no going back as success clouds their minds and they start thinking that they have a knack or skill to win and, if they lose, they continue to play in order to recover their money. Now they are glued to it and this stage is called the “Gamblers’ Fallacy”. Friends and colleagues who are already trapped in this fallacy like to encourage the newcomers in order to make them suffer the way they have been suffering for a long time.
The young and tender minds find it very difficult to come out of this rat trap. Then they start trying numerous types of gambling in order to compensate for their losses. They want to try if other types of games are easier than the ones they have been playing so far. People offer many types of advice, and they want to try all of them till they are trapped in a precarious condition. Slowly but surely, they get into financial trouble; take loans from friends, banks and neighbours, leading to depression and sleepless nights.
Adolescents or youth trapped in such a situation start losing their hold on other commitments. Their performance starts decreasing in studies, they lose self-confidence, develop a deep sense of guilt, depression, and many other psychological and social problems engulf them one after another. They become more prone to violence, criminal activities and unsafe sexuality. Some of them even commit suicide. People start distancing themselves from such adolescents and no one wants to sit on a sinking ship.
“Gambling is a family disease. One person may be addicted, but the whole family suffers.” – Anonymous
“It is hard to convince a winner that he is losing.” Mike Caro
Now the question arises: how to solve this problem or what is the role of parents, educators, educational institutions and society in general? Our governments, policy makers, think tanks in society and psychologists have to play a vital role in order to eradicate this social problem.
First of all, parents are the first teachers and councillors of every child. It is the duty of parents to keep an eye on their children in today’s fast-moving society. They should monitor the use of mobile phones and the movements of their children. Mobile phones may be used for studying or academic purposes. Parents have to ensure that their children don’t become mobile phone addicts. It is certainly not a good idea to buy an expensive mobile for a child and allow him or her to keep it all the time. Nothing can be taken for granted as a young person goes through many brain-storming sessions in a single day when moving in social circles. Their friends, classmates, neighbours and social media are miraculously active to entertain them with new ideas.
Educational institutions should not allow their students to bring and use mobile phones on campus. The government should come up with a uniform policy and take this issue seriously. If a child needs counselling, he or she should be taken to a trained and qualified counsellor. Never think that the problem will get solved automatically with the passage of time.
The government has initiated many organised schemes and propaganda against drug addiction, smoking, alcoholism and other social evils. In the same way, awareness campaigns should be started against this social evil. No social recognition should be granted to online gambling. Some strict laws and penalties can be imposed on the organisers of such activities in the national interest. Youth and adolescents are our national assets, and we cannot afford to spoil them.
The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. – Advice to gamblers.
(Dr AK Srivastava is Principal, DAV Intermediate College, Dehradun)
