More than 50 per cent of school and junior college students in the city are spending more than three hours in front of the computer every day, which is depriving them of the required eight hours of sleep.

It also has other ill-effects and affects behaviour patterns and academic performance, say health experts.

Dr K.T. Reddy, associate professor at Nims said, “Children stay glued to the TV screen or stare at the computer without even blinking or taking breaks. Over-indulgence in Internet activity, especially at night, hampers their sleep. It leads to a whole lot of related problems of the digestive system, nervous system, affects their concentration, memory power and psychological development as well.”

According to Dr Subbaiah Choudhary, consultant neuro-physician, Star Hospital, computer addiction among children is leading to increased instances of headaches, migraine, stiff neck and back pain, restlessness and obesity due to lack of outdoor activity.

“Continuous keyboard operation is also causing repetitive stress injury including tendonitis, tenso synobatis and CTS.”

Moreover, computer vision syndrome characterised by headache, blurred vision and eye irritation are not uncommon among children, added Dr Choudhary.

Dr S.R.R.Y. Srinivas, assistant professor at the Government Institute of Mental Health and secretary of the Hyderabad Psychiatry Society pointed out, “Since all bodily systems are connected to sleep, insufficient sleep also affects the secretion of the growth hormone, neuro-hormone, steroid hormone, consolidation of memory and so on, which definitely impacts the psychological development of the child.”

Experts advise parents to keep the computer in the family room instead of in the children's room.