CBT Urges Parents and Schools to Promote Reading Over Mobile Screen Time

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 31: Children’s Book Trust, India’s first non-profit publisher of children’s books with headquarters in New Delhi, has started a special awareness campaign called “Book Helps, Mobile Harms.”The nationwide campaign seeks to raise awareness of the negative consequences of excessive mobile phone use while highlighting the significance of developing reading habits in children from a young age.

Through the “Book Helps, Mobile Harms” campaign, Children’s Book Trust is addressing growing concerns among parents and educators about the impact of excessive screen time on children. The campaign highlights how overuse of mobile phones adversely affects eyesight, mental well-being, concentration, and overall development. In contrast, it underscores the long-term benefits of reading, including improved focus, imagination, critical thinking, creativity, and sustained knowledge generation, helping children build a healthier and more meaningful relationship with learning, benefits that digital screen exposure often fails to provide.

Mr. Kishore Lal, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Children’s Book Trust, said, “Our goal has never centred around selling books; it is about connecting children with the joy of reading. With the ‘Book Helps, Mobile Harms’ campaign, we are responding to parents’ and educators’ concerns about excessive screen exposure and reaffirming that books remain the most powerful medium for learning, imagination, and value formation.”

With a legacy of over 69 years, the New Delhi-based Children’s Book Trust has played a pivotal role in shaping generations of readers through high-quality, well-illustrated, and affordable Indian children’s literature. Children’s Book Trust offers a choice of over 1,000 affordable children’s books in English, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada and Urdu to children, spanning picture books, storybooks, and knowledge-based, value-driven titles.

Ms. Rana Siddiqui Zaman, Lead Strategist, Content, Communications and Promotions added, “Children today are spending far too much time on digital screens. Books help nurture curiosity, imagination, concentration, and a healthy outlook towards life. As a non-profit trust, our goal is to ensure that good books remain accessible and affordable for every child, especially those from low-income families.”

To put the campaign into execution mode Ms. Zaman and others from her team will travel extensively initially across Eastern and North Eastern India, going to different towns and cities; and schools therein to spread the message; interacting with children, parents / guardians and teachers, reinforcing the collective responsibility of society to nurture young minds through books.

In support of the “Book Helps, Mobile Harms” campaign, global data underscores growing concerns about mobile phone usage among children. According to the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2023–24, at least 79 education systems worldwide (which is approximately 40% of all education systems worldwide) have introduced bans on smartphone use in classrooms, reflecting rising awareness of how mobile phones can distract students and negatively impact learning outcomes. The report highlights that even the mere presence of a smartphone—with notifications or alerts—can significantly reduce student attention on academic tasks, and that inappropriate or excessive use of technology is linked to poorer focus and diminished academic performance. These international trends add weight to CBT’s campaign, reinforcing the need for balanced digital habits and greater emphasis on traditional reading and sustained engagement with books, especially during early developmental years.

Global research and data highlighted across Google-indexed studies indicate that excessive mobile phone usage among children is increasingly linked to poor concentration, disrupted sleep patterns, eye strain, anxiety, and reduced academic performance. Studies show that prolonged screen exposure—especially before bedtime—can significantly reduce sleep duration, affecting memory, learning ability, and emotional well-being. Experts also warn that early and frequent smartphone use limits sustained attention and deep thinking, encourages passive content consumption, and reduces opportunities for imagination, physical activity, and meaningful social interaction. These findings reinforce the urgent need to balance digital exposure and promote reading habits that support healthier cognitive and emotional development in children.

About Children’s Book Trust: Children’s Book Trust, now in its 69th year is the pioneer in children’s book publishing in India. The trust produces well-written, well-illustrated and well-designed books for children. CBT brings out books that are easy to read and easy on the eyes, including books that will help children to better appreciate India’s cultural heritage.

CBT in their presentation, production and visual interpretations has progressed manifold since it was founded in 1957 by K Shankar Pillai; from Panchatantra tales or Folktales to diversified subjects like Fiction, Heritage, Information, Science, Humour, Environment and Read-Aloud Books. The Trust believes its books will generate a deeper spirit of enquiry in young minds and a healthy, progressive outlook to life and living. The titles are published not only in English and Hindi, but also in many other Indian languages like Bengali, Telegu, Tamil, etc.

CBT books have been included under Adult Education and Science Improvement schemes. Select titles were printed under the ‘Operation Blackboard’ to supply in bulk to various State Governments. CBT which has more than 1000 titles to its credit, also has an exhaustive and authoritative book on ‘Children’s Literature in India’ for documentation and referencing.

The Trust keeps prices of its books affordable, in fact subsidized, in an effort to keep its books within the reach of the average Indian child. CBT books have become a byword for elegance, quality and printing merit. The annual sale of books has increased five-fold. The diversification of subjects has come to cover a large gamut relevant to children and their growing needs. CBT books have been bestowed various national and international awards for its efforts. In all these activities CBT has kept in mind Shankar’s passionate belief that children deserve nothing but the very best.