Srinagar, Jul 22: The first thing Dr Mir IshfaqHussain and Farhan Shah noticed was not the parents exercising inside the gym. It was the children waiting outside.
Some sat quietly. Others stared into mobile phones, their attention fixed on short videos that seemed to scroll endlessly.
“It wasn’t just that they were using phones,” Hussain and Farhan recalled. “It was that they had nowhere else to be.”
That observation stayed with them long after they left the gym. Weeks later, it became the starting point of a community fitness campaign that now brings together doctors, health professionals, educators and senior public officials for morning runs, badminton games and public exercise sessions across Srinagar.
Their goal is ambitious, persuade young people, and perhaps more importantly, their parents, that movement can compete with the pull of the screen.
“We wanted to do something meaningful for society. During our visits to gyms, we often noticed children sitting with mobile phones while their parents exercised. That made us realise how deeply screen addiction has entered our daily lives,” DrHussain said.
According to him, excessive consumption of short-form social media content is affecting children’s attention span and concentration, making awareness on healthy digital habits increasingly important.
DrHussain, who holds a PhD in musculoskeletal sports medicine from the American College of Sports Medicine and runs a chain of Hayat Multi-speciality Medical Centres in Kashmir, said the campaign is based on scientific principles rather than being merely a social media exercise.
“Our objective is not advertisement but awareness. We explain scientifically why excessive screen exposure is harmful and demonstrate healthy alternatives through physical activity,” he said.
Initially led by DrHussain, Farhan Shah and noted pulmonologist DrNaveedNazir Shah, the initiative has since been joined by noted TV broadcaster AzharHajini, renowned endocrinologist DrShariqMasoodi and senior police officials, including the SSP city Traffic.
“Children today are active online,” he said. “The question is how we make them active offline.”
Notably, public health researchers have long argued that role models can encourage healthier behaviour, particularly when combined with community participation. But they also caution that reducing children’s dependence on digital devices requires more than symbolic gestures. It often involves changes at home, in schools and in the design of neighbourhoods where children have safe places to play.
The campaign has also attracted questions.
Some wonder whether a movement led largely by professionals in their forties and fifties can truly resonate with teenagers immersed in digital culture.
Hussain acknowledges the challenge. Younger athletes and social influencers, he said, are gradually being invited to participate. The organisers also plan to expand the programme into colleges and universities, where they hope peer influence will prove more powerful than lectures.
Responding to questions about how the initiative differs from other fitness groups operating in Kashmir, he maintained that the campaign places emphasis on scientific guidance and injury-free exercise.
“Every club has its own concept. Our focus is evidence-based fitness and educating people about the correct way to exercise while highlighting the health risks associated with excessive mobile phone use,” he said.
The organisers also pointed to their own physical transformation since the campaign began, saying it reflects the positive impact of consistent exercise and healthy habits.
But on Srinagar’s walking tracks, where the day’s first light now falls on groups stretching, jogging and talking about health, the organisers believe change often begins the same way fitness does, not with a finish line, but with a first step.
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