India has shifted from a policy of “Digital Access” to “Digital Wellness.” The Economic Survey 2025-26 have officially classified “Digital Addiction” as a structural threat to India’s demographic dividend.
Recent Incidents and Policy Signals on Digital Addiction:
- The Ghaziabad Incident (February 2026) : The tragic death of three minor sisters, reportedly caught in an addictive “Korean task based interactive gaming” cycle, highlights the severe and irreversible risks of digital isolation and psychological ensnarement.
- Economic Survey 2025-26 : This document officially identifies “Digital Addiction” as a structural threat to India’s Demographic Dividend, marking a historic shift from “Digital Access” to “Digital Wellness” in national policy.
|
About Digital Addiction
- Definition : According to the Economic Survey, Digital addiction refers to compulsive and excessive engagement with digital devices such as smartphones, gaming platforms, and social media.
- Compulsive Engagement refers to excessive engagement with smartphones and social media, resulting in a loss of control, psychological distress, and Functional Impairment.
- Behavioural Nature : It is recognised as a behavioural addiction characterised by loss of control, psychological distress, and functional impairment rather than substance dependence.
- Global Recognition : The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognized online gaming addiction as a mental health condition in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11) under ‘Gaming Disorder.’
- The Youth Factor : With 85.5% of Indian households owning at least one smartphone, and internet usage being near-universal among the 15–29 age group, the youth are the primary targets of these addictive digital ecosystems.
Key Trends
- Expanding Digital Economy: India’s digital economy contributed 11.74% of national income in FY23 and is projected to reach 13.42% in FY25, reflecting large-scale digital adoption.
- Rapid Connectivity Growth: Internet connections increased from 25.15 crore in 2014 to 96.96 crore in 2024, driven by nationwide 5G rollout and BharatNet connectivity to 2.18 lakh Gram Panchayats.
- Near-Universal Access: 85.5% of Indian households own at least one smartphone (2025), indicating near-ubiquitous digital access across social groups.
- High-Intensity Usage Patterns: In 2024, 48% of users consumed online video, 43% accessed social media, 40% used email and online music, and 26% used digital payments.
- Large Absolute User Base: These usage shares translate into around 40 crore OTT users and nearly 35 crore social media users, intensifying exposure risks.
- Youth Dominance: Internet and smartphone usage is near-universal among 15–29-year-olds, placing youth at the centre of digital addiction concerns.
Key Causes of Digital Addiction
- Ubiquitous Digital Access : Affordable smartphones, low-cost data, and 24×7 internet make constant digital engagement unavoidable.
- Example: TRAI data (2024–25) shows India crossing 900 million internet subscribers. Low-cost data, smartphones, and Digital India have enabled continuous online presence, increasing screen dependency.
- Algorithmic Manipulation : Auto-play, infinite scrolling, short-video loops, and personalized feeds exploit dopaminergic reward pathways, fostering compulsive use.
- Example: Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT (2023) flagged short-video platforms for auto-play, infinite scrolling, and personalised feeds that promote addictive consumption, especially among children.
- Social Validation Economy : Dependence on likes, shares, and follower counts fuels anxiety, social comparison, and repetitive checking, especially among adolescents.
- Example: NCERT and Ministry of Education advisories (2024–25) highlighted rising anxiety, attention disorders, and self-esteem issues among adolescents linked to likes, shares, and follower counts.
- Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) : Anxiety over missing updates, trends, or interactions leads to continuous partial attention and compulsive connectivity.
- Example: The Economic Survey 2025–26 recognised FoMO-driven compulsive checking as affecting youth mental health, productivity, and decision-making.
- Academic and Social Stress : Competitive pressures push students towards digital platforms as coping mechanisms, often escalating into addiction.
- Example: Ministry of Education reports (post-COVID) show students increasingly using gaming and social media as coping mechanisms amid academic competition and employment uncertainty.
- Real-Money Gaming & Gambling : Monetised skill-based platforms heighten risks of addiction, debt, and psychological distress, including among minors.
- Example: Laws such as the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Regulation Act, 2023 followed cases of financial distress and suicides linked to real-money gaming, triggering debates on regulation and federalism.
- Pandemic-Induced Normalisation : COVID-19 entrenched excessive screen-time through online education, entertainment, and socialisation.
- Example: COVID-19 entrenched excessive screen-time through online education, OTT platforms, and digital socialisation, with long-term impacts acknowledged under the Tele-MANAS mental health framework.
Multi-Dimensional Impacts of Digital Addiction
- Cognitive and Mental Health Impacts: Digital addiction is linked to anxiety, depression, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), sleep disorders, and low self-esteem, with higher vulnerability among youth and adolescent girls due to algorithmic amplification of idealised body images.
- Example: Economic Survey 2025–26 and MoE mental-health advisories flagged rising screen-induced anxiety, sleep debt, and attention disorders among students.
- Educational and Productivity Losses: Excessive screen use causes attention fragmentation, reduced concentration, and learning losses, undermining academic outcomes and workplace efficiency.
- Example: ASER 2024 reported declining foundational learning and attention spans, raising concerns over dilution of the Right to Education under Article 21A in the digital age.
- Erosion of Social Capital: Compulsive digital engagement weakens face-to-face interaction, community participation, and interpersonal skills, creating a loneliness paradox despite high connectivity.
- Example: ASER 2024 highlighted that while social media usage is rising, meaningful offline peer interaction among children is at an all-time low.
- Economic and Financial Costs: Digital addiction leads to direct financial losses through online spending, gaming, and cyber fraud, and long-term costs via reduced employability, productivity, and skill formation.
- Example: Policy discussions around real-money gaming regulations and the Viksit Bharat goal increasingly recognise digital addiction as a threat to human capital quality and long-term economic growth.
The Regulatory Landscape in India
- Purpose of the Regulation: To balance free speech(Article 19(1)(a)) with the need to control misinformation, hate speech, and other harmful content on social media platforms.
- However, they have also raised concerns about potential censorship and surveillance.
- Constitutional Foundations and Human Capital:
- Constitutional Balancing and the Doctrine of Proportionality: While Article 19(1)(a) provides a robust shield for freedom of speech and expression, it is not absolute.
- Under the Doctrine of Proportionality, the state can impose reasonable restrictions to protect minors.
- The Judiciary has consistently held that children represent a vulnerable class, justifying state intervention to protect them even if such measures incidentally impact the digital freedoms of adults.
- The Right to Dignified Life (Article 21) : Indian jurisprudence increasingly recognizes mental well-being as a fundamental component of the Right to Life.
- Consequently, widespread digital addiction is no longer viewed merely as a personal habit but as a systemic public health challenge that the state is obligated to address.
- Educational Integrity (Article 21A) : The Right to Education is seen as being under threat by attention fragmentation and screen dependence.
- Excessive digital engagement is identified as a primary cause of learning losses and hindered cognitive development, prompting the state to regulate how digital content reaches students.
- Safeguarding the Demographic Dividend : Unregulated digital environments pose a risk of turning this demographic dividend into a demographic liability by reducing productivity and overall labor force participation through addictive platform designs.
- Key Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks :
- Information Technology Act, 2000 : This serves as the foundational primary legislation that provides the legal framework for all electronic governance, digital signatures, and cybercrimes within the country.
- IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021: These rules require social media platforms to exercise Due Diligence. Key mandates include:
- Appointment of Grievance Officers to address user complaints.
- Removal of Harmful Content that is illegal or objectionable.
- Traceability of Origin: Identifying the first originator of a message (a point of significant privacy debate).
- Transparency Reports: Periodic filings to the government regarding moderation actions.
- Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 : This act introduces stringent protections for younger users.
- Specifically Section 9 mandates Verifiable Parental Consent for processing children’s data and strictly prohibits Behavioral Tracking or targeted advertising directed at minors.
- Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2025 : Addressing the intersection of social media and gaming, this landmark law bans wagering-based online money games to prevent financial ruin.
- It establishes a licensing regime for permissible skill-based games while enforcing strict rules on how these games are advertised to the public.
- Institutional Oversight and Public Health Initiatives :
- Relevant Authorities: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) serves as the lead architect of digital policy, while the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) ensures that child safety remains a priority.
- Technical enforcement is handled by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) (incident response) and the Cybercrime Investigation Cell, which handles the prosecution of digital offenses.
- Mental Health Infrastructure: To combat the physiological effects of technology, the government launched Tele-MANAS, a 24/7 toll-free mental health helpline (14416) that has provided counseling to millions of citizens.
- For clinical cases, the SHUT Clinic at NIMHANS offers specialized medical intervention for technology use disorders.
- Digital Hygiene in Education: The Pragyatah framework and specific CBSE guidelines have been implemented to integrate screen-time limits and safe internet use directly into the school environment, ensuring that digital learning does not come at the cost of student health.
- State-Level Support: Innovative initiatives like Karnataka’s ‘Digital Detox Centre – Beyond Screens’ provide physical spaces for individuals to recover from severe digital addiction and reclaim their offline lives.
Global Regulatory Strategies
- Statutory Age Bans & Access Control: These nations utilize strict legal thresholds to prevent minors from accessing potentially addictive platforms.
- Australia : Leading the “ban movement” with the Online Safety Amendment (2024), which mandates a minimum age of 16. It places a Statutory Duty of Care on platforms, meaning companies (not parents) are liable for fines if they fail to block minors.
- Denmark : Introduced a national age limit of 15 in 2025. It allows for a Parental Opt-in for 13-14 year olds but utilizes the MitID (national eID) and a dedicated age-verification app to ensure compliance.
- China : Enforces the world’s strictest “Minor Protection Mode.” Access is restricted via real-name authentication, limiting gaming to one hour (8-9 PM) on weekends/holidays and imposing hard spending caps on in-game purchases.
- Safety by Design & Resilience: These strategies focus on changing how platforms function rather than outright banning users.
- United Kingdom: The Age-Appropriate Design Code ensures privacy and safety are “Default” settings. Platforms are prohibited from using nudge techniques (like infinite scroll or predatory notifications) to keep children online.
- Singapore: Prefers a community-led model. Through the Media Literacy Council, it integrates Cyber Wellness into the school curriculum, focusing on responsible digital citizenship rather than prohibitive legislation.
- Clinical Support & Physical Restrictions : Addressing the mental health fallout and “real-world” distractions of digital use.
- South Korea : Has moved from the “Cinderella Law” (night bans) to a therapeutic model. The “I Will Centres” provide specialized addiction recovery and counseling for youth suffering from technology-use disorders.
- Smartphone Bans : France, Spain, Finland, and Japan have implemented nationwide school-level restrictions, banning smartphone use during school hours to prevent attention fragmentation and cyberbullying.
PWOnlyIAS Extra Edge:
About Social Media and Its Use
- About Social Media: It refers to a type of digital technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas and information among its users through text, audio and visuals formats and engagement through virtual networks and communities.
- Example : Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, whatsapp, linkedIn are some of the notable social media companies.
- Users : There are more than 5 billion active users of social media roughly equal to 62% of the world’s population.
- Indian User : A 2022 survey conducted by LocalCircles regarding daily Internet consumption of children aged 9-17 concerning social media, videos/OTT, and online gaming says,
- 61% of urban Indian children devoted an average of 3 hours or longer each day on internet with 46% spending between 3-6 hours, and 15% over 6 hours
- 39% used gadgets for 1-3 hours daily.
- As per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Report, more than 90% teenagers use social media.
The “Ban” Debate- Blanket Prohibition vs Smart Regulation
Following the Australian Online Safety Amendment (2024), India is witnessing a polarized debate on an outright social media ban for minors.
- Legislative Push : A Private Member’s Bill (Social Media Age Restrictions and Online Safety Bill, 2026) has been proposed in Parliament, seeking a total ban on accounts for children under 16, with penalties up to ₹250 crore for non-compliant platforms.
- State-Level Initiatives: The governments of Andhra Pradesh and Goa are actively studying legal frameworks to implement state-wide age-based bans, citing “breaking trust” in algorithmic safety.
- Judicial Skepticism : Conversely, the Supreme Court (November 2025) previously cautioned against blanket bans, calling them “impractical” and potentially “unconstitutional,” favoring age-verification and safety-by-design over total exclusion.
Reasons for Advocating Bans on Social Media Use
- Cyber Bullying : Young children, especially girls are the easiest target for cyberbullying and Social media platforms act as a catalyst to it.
- Example: The Chinese App TikTok is frequently in news for exposing young girls to cyberbullying.
- Pornography : Children can come across pornographic materials on these social media platforms which can negatively impact their impressionable minds as they risk getting easily addicted to it.
- Example : In 2022, India recorded over one thousand cases of Child Pornography with Karnataka reporting the highest numbers
- Addiction and Danger of Falling into Feedback Loops : Social media is designed to exploit users’ attention which poses a risk as young children will easily fall prey to such dopamine-driven feedback loops and get addicted.
- Mental Instability : Increasing online presence is negatively affecting the children’s cognitive development as it isolates them, impacting their socialisation skills which affects their future mental peace and stability.
- A psychology book by Professor Jonathan Haidt called ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness’, provides a direct link to the cause for poor youth mental health and wellbeing and the rise of smartphones and social media.
- Violence: Children coming in contact with violent viral content on social media like sexual abusive content , bullying, cuss words, soft porn, hate speech etc can develop violent tendencies amongst themselves.
- Example : Mumbai-based Association of Adolescent and Child Care in India (AACCI) surveyed schools in Mumbai and Gurgaon and found that aggression was on the rise.
- Health Impacts: Social Media Addiction can be manifested as ADHD (Attention Deficit/ hyperactivity Disorder), aggression, memory issues, headaches, eye and back discomfort, stress, communication difficulties, lethargy, and even depression.
- The sleep pattern of children is affected due to excessive use of social media.
- Falling Prey to Misinformation: Social media is a hub for false information. Children can be brainwashed easily through propaganda.
- As per a study of UNICEF, only 2% of children and young people have the critical literacy skills they need to judge whether a news story is real or false.
Arguments Against Ban on Social Media Use
- Enforcement Challenges: Bans are challenging to enforce in a digital environment as children can easily bypass these barriers.
- Example: As South Korea passed Cinderella Law banning gaming from midnight to 6:00 a.m there was a rise in identity theft by children to be able to access the gaming platforms.
- Shared Device Usage : In India, as digital literacy is quite low, children help their parents navigate the internet, therefore to expect parents to guide children on safe online usage is not feasible.
- Example : A survey of 10,000 children in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and in government schools in Delhi and found out that 80% of children helped their parents navigate online platforms.
- Low Digital Literacy : Using Age Verification Technologies like ID-based verification would be difficult for people who are less literate.
- Example: The NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) data, only 40% Indians knew how to copy or move files on a computer (2021).
- Absolving Accountability : An outright ban will discourage the technology companies in taking responsibility and will have less imperative to design platforms keeping in mind child safety parameters.
- Negation of Positive Digital Engagements : Social media can help children to think critically and engage with people of similar interests building critical socialisation, communication skills for the future with its wide resources.
- Example : Children Climate activists like Greta Thunberg used Social Media for propagating her message and building a community of like minded children.
- A Learning Tool : The digital age and social media have created unprecedented opportunities for children and young people to communicate, learn, socialize, and play, exposing them to new ideas and more diverse sources of information.
|
Challenges in Governance & Implementation
- Regulatory Fragmentation: Authority remains siloed between MeitY (technical), MWCD (child welfare), and the Ministry of Health.
- India lacks a Specialized Digital Child-Safety Regulator, resulting in inconsistent enforcement across diverse platforms.
- The Transparency Gap : A major bottleneck is the absence of Independent Algorithmic Audits.
- Without them, regulators cannot verify if platforms utilize “Dark Patterns” or Variable Reward Loops, design features engineered to maximize dopamine-driven engagement in minors.
- Evidence and Data Deficit : As noted in the Economic Survey 2025-26, India lacks a National Digital Behavior Surveillance Framework.
- This creates an “Evidence Gap,” making it difficult to distinguish between healthy usage and clinical addiction across the Urban-Rural divide.
- The Enforcement Paradox : Implementing strict age-gates often leads to an “Enforcement Paradox.”
- Overly punitive bans frequently push minors toward VPNs or Identity Theft, allowing them to bypass safeguards while remaining invisible to safety monitors.
Way Forward
- Institutional & Regulatory Layer :
- Safety-by-Design : Legislation must move beyond content removal to mandate that safety is built into a platform’s “DNA.”
- This includes Privacy by Default and disabling Auto-play and high-stimulus notifications for users under 18.
- Draft IT (Digital Code) Rules, 2026 : Proposed to introduce mandatory Age-Based Classification (U, 7+, 13+, 16+, A) for all digital content, standardizing safety across OTT and social media.
- Clinical & Community Support :
- Early-Warning Institutions : Under NEP 2020, schools are being reimagined as hubs for identifying early symptoms of digital distress, such as sleep deprivation and social withdrawal.
- Expansion of Tele-MANAS : The government aims to integrate specialized Digital Addiction Counseling into the 24/7 Tele-MANAS network and replicate the NIMHANS SHUT Clinic model at the state level.
- Family & Individual Empowerment:
- Parental Capacity Building : Training parents via Anganwadis to handle “Sharenting” (excessive online sharing of a child’s life) and to use collaborative parental control tools rather than abrupt device confiscation.
- Digital Wellness Curriculum : Shifting focus from “restricting access” to “enhancing literacy,” teaching children to recognize algorithmic manipulation.
Conclusion
The 2026 Ghaziabad tragedy underscores that digital safety is a constitutional necessity, not a policy choice. The Economic Survey 2025–26 reframes youth protection from algorithmic exploitation as essential to preserving India’s demographic dividend, calling for a shift from bans to Safety-by-Design governance.
5 Feb 2026
.png)
Current Affairs
GS Foundation
Optional Course
Combo Courses
Degree Program
