Why is it in news?
- A recent national survey flagged digital addiction as a major health worry, urging restrictions on children’s access to screens, stronger platform accountability, and promotion of offline alternatives for healthy childhood development.
Relevance
- GS 1 (Society): Changing social behaviour patterns among youth, mental health implications, family structures, and digital lifestyles.
- GS 2 (Governance/Policy): Need for regulatory mechanisms for online platforms, child protection policies, digital governance, and age-appropriate safeguards.
- GS 3 (Health & Public Policy): Public health dimension of screen addiction, lifestyle disorders, behavioural health, and preventive strategies.
Basics: what is digital addiction?
Definition and scope
- Digital addiction refers to compulsive and excessive use of digital devices and platforms, including social media, gaming, and streaming, leading to impaired mental health, behaviour, and daily functioning.
- It increasingly affects children and adolescents, whose cognitive, emotional, and social development remains highly sensitive to screen exposure.
Context: expanding digital exposure among children
Near-universal access
- Rapid smartphone penetration and cheap data have made screen access nearly universal, transforming childhood leisure, learning, and social interaction patterns across urban and rural India.
- The challenge today is not connectivity, but safe, age-appropriate, and moderated use of digital technologies.
Key findings of the survey
Mental health and behaviour
- Excessive screen use is linked with anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, reduced attention span, and declining academic performance among children and young adults.
- Digital overuse correlates with aggressive behaviour, social withdrawal, and cyberbullying, particularly in the 15–24 age group.
Platform design risks
- Features such as auto-play, infinite scrolling, gaming rewards, and targeted advertising increase addictive potential, especially for young users with limited self-regulation.
Digital addiction and ultra-processed foods: a parallel threat
Lifestyle convergence
- The survey identifies ultra-processed foods (UPFs) as a parallel lifestyle risk, driven by aggressive marketing, convenience, and preference-shaping among children.
- Both digital addiction and UPF consumption reinforce sedentary behaviour, obesity, and long-term non-communicable disease risks.
International responses: comparative perspective
- Countries like Australia, China, and South Korea have imposed curbs on children’s access to social media and online gaming through time limits and age-based restrictions.
- These examples indicate a global shift towards state intervention in digital childhood environments.
Governance and regulatory concerns
Platform accountability
- The survey calls for mandatory age verification, default age-appropriate settings, and limits on targeted advertising for children.
- Online platforms are urged to share responsibility for protecting child mental health, not merely user engagement metrics.
Role of families and schools
- Families are advised to enforce screen-time limits, device-free hours, and shared offline activities, supported by parental awareness programmes.
- Schools are encouraged to adopt digital wellness curricula, moderated online learning spaces, and mandatory physical activity.
Ethical and social dimensions
- Digital addiction raises ethical questions about corporate responsibility, child autonomy, consent, and data exploitation in platform-driven ecosystems.
- It reflects a deeper tension between technological convenience and child well-being.
Public policy implications
- Digital addiction should be recognised as a public health and child rights issue, not merely a parental responsibility.
- Integrated policies are needed across health, education, consumer protection, and digital governance domains.
Way forward: balanced digital childhood
- Policymaking must shift from unrestricted access to “safe-by-design” digital ecosystems, prioritising child development over profit-driven engagement.
- Technology should augment learning and creativity, not replace physical activity, social bonding, and emotional resilience.
