NEW DELHI: India’s digital revolution, while transformative, is exacting a growing toll on its youngest users. With over 70 crore internet users and 60 crore smartphones in circulation, a creeping crisis is emerging—one driven by excessive screen time and digital dependency, especially among children and adolescents.Though India lacks a unified nationwide study on digital addiction across age groups, a patchwork of regional and thematic studies reveal alarming trends. In Maharashtra, for example, 22% of children aged 9 to 17 reportedly spend more than six hours a day on screens. Nationwide, over 60% in the same age bracket log at least three hours daily on mobile games or social media.Even preschoolers are not spared. Children under five now average 2.2 hours of screen exposure daily—more than double the limit recommended by pediatricians. For teenagers and university students, the situation is even more acute. A study in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine found that over a quarter of Delhi university students exhibit signs of smartphone addiction, with the rate rising to 33% among male students.Compounding the problem is widespread parental disengagement. A survey cited by EducationWorld revealed that many parents underestimate the gravity of screen addiction or are unaware of their children’s actual screen time. The emotional and psychological fallout is hard to ignore. The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), in data collected between 2020 and 2023, found that 27% of young adults aged 18 to 24 exhibit Problematic Internet Use (PIU), with Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube being major culprits. The effects are tangible—poorer academic performance, disrupted sleep, and emotional volatility.Gendered patterns of distress are emerging as well. About 35% of young women report anxiety from social comparison online, while 15% of urban young men show compulsive gaming habits. While these behaviours are enabled by sophisticated, addictive algorithms, they are also exacerbated by policy inertia. India lacks a coherent digital wellbeing framework for minors. Hence what should be the empowering access to a digital world is mutating into an unregulated space where mental health is a collateral damage.
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