Vadodara: A father in Vadodara was left shaken after his 17-year-old daughter turned violent and bit him when he took away her mobile phone. The incident comes in the wake of a recent tragedy in Maharashtra, where a boy took the extreme step of jumping off a fort in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar after being upset over allegedly not receiving the latest mobile phone. His parents too died while trying to save him.The teenager, a resident of Atladara area, used to be always engrossed in her phone and spent hours scrolling through Instagram reels, chatting online and creating and uploading photos and videos every day. “She would rarely put her phone down and often stayed locked in her room. Whenever her parents asked her to keep the phone aside and talk to them, she would get angry,” said an Abhayam official.The situation took a disturbing turn two days ago when her father confiscated her mobile phone. Enraged by the move, the girl bit her father several times, leaving her parents, both govt employees, shocked by the sudden outburst. “The girl, who is pursuing a diploma in computers, was severely addicted to her phone and Instagram reels. And, her parents recently learnt that she was also constantly chatting with someone on Instagram which upset them further. So the father decided to take away her phone,” an Abhayam 181 official said.“The violent attack by their daughter shook the parents so much that they decided to stop her academics and keep her at home under observation. They were worried that their daughter may take some extreme step,” the official added. The parents then called Abhayam counsellors to seek help.The counsellors met the girl and explained to her the side-effects of an overdose of mobile phone and social media. “We advised her to focus on her education and not misbehave with her parents for mobile phone. The girl promised to reduce her phone usage and not misbehave with parents,” the official added.
