For Sendhil, who sells tea going around on his bicycle, the smartphone is a Hobson’s choice. “I need it as it helps me accept payments through Paytm.” While that is the good part, when he returns back home, his 13-year-old son uses the phone, most days till the wee hours of the morning and has stopped playing outdoors. “I can exercise no control over this medium and am hugely concerned whether he will use this for wrong purposes.” Another thing that bothers Sendhil is the recourse mechanisms, which are not easily accessible in case things go wrong. “My knowledge of law is not good and my son’s school doesn’t teach the pros and cons of internet usage,” he rues. Ask him about reaching out to psychologists. He shrugs it off saying that these are meant for people of a “higher” class. “In such cases I resort to only one thing I know — praying,” he says.

Several studies have pointed to the link between cyber criminal activity and the person’s social behaviour. “More teenagers and young people are getting involved in cyber crime, without realising the consequences of their actions,” says Sanjay Sahay, IPS, DG & IGP Office, Karnataka. While it is easy to shrug off people like Sendhil whose economic output often gets relegated to the fringes of GDP statistics, it does have a bearing on the economy. The global average annualised cost of cyber security is pegged at $11.7 million, according to a joint study by Ponemon Institute and Accenture.

Also, several psychological theories of crime have been proved to have a sound scientific basis. However, it is widely accepted that the reasons for crime are seldom one cause or the other, but rather a combination of some.

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