“Most people can’t sleep due to insomnia while others cant due to an internet connection,” said Mehal Mukul, quoting the perfect adage. The 6th grader from KIIT International School in Odisha said, “Digital innovation has taken the world by storm. And there’s not way of stopping it. The wonderful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you. And so is the case for Instagram, which is a treasure trove for kids all around the word to access educational pages based on their varied interests from Robotics to Arts and Crafts.”
The student were debating whether Instagram’s minimum age should be lowered to 10 at The New Indian Express' virtual inter-school debate competition, Let's Debate that streamed live on April 14. The largest inter-school virtual debate competition was held in association with Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Meil and Linc Pens. The judges for the debate were Venkata Krishna B, Senior Assistant Editor, TNIE and Mala Mary Martina, author and CEO of I Love Mondays.
Joanna Teresa Antony of Class 7 was quick to offer a rebuttal. The 12 year old who hails from Army Pubic School in Hyderabad mentioned the role technology took when the pandemic unleashed itself on the world. “We are spending so much time staring into a screen without at end, myself included. Research tells us that the average adult spends 53 minutes minimum on Instagram on a daily basis. And they have responsibilities. Children don't have responsibilities, these 53 minutes could stretch into hours and days!”
Judge Mala Mary Martina commended their great energy and commitment to their topics before enquiring about how many of the participants themselves were already using Instagram. Venkata Krishna B marvelled at the amount of research the children had done He said, “They did stuck to the facts and didn’t put out some imaginary ideas. This is impressive to see at a time when facts are overlooked so often.”
Once our online voting ends, the results of every junior round of TNIE's Let's Debate will be announced at 6 pm on Sunday, April 18 at www.edexlive.com/debate. Stay tuned!
