Children are now growing up inside digital environments that were never designed with their developmental limits in mind. Screens arrive early, stay constant, and increasingly replace the slower rhythms through which emotional regulation, attention, and social skills are formed. What once felt like a parenting concern has become a public mental health question.
Against this backdrop, Australia has taken a decisive step. Its move to restrict social media access for under 16s, supported by mandatory age verification and penalties for platform non compliance, signals a shift in how governments frame the issue. Excessive social media exposure among children is no longer being treated as a lifestyle choice or a family matter alone. It is being recognised as a population level mental health risk.
That recognition matters. Research across multiple countries, including India, consistently links unregulated screen exposure with higher levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms, irritability, and emotional dysregulation among young people. These associations do not suggest that social media single-handedly causes mental health issues, but they do point to an environment that amplifies vulnerability during critical stages of psychological development.
Mental health professionals are clear on one point: social media does not cause ADHD or autism spectrum disorder. These are neurodevelopmental conditions with complex biological and genetic underpinnings. What research does show, however, is that prolonged and intensive screen exposure is associated with increased impulsivity, attention difficulties, sleep disruption, and behavioural problems in children. For young minds still learning how to focus, tolerate boredom, and regulate emotion, constant digital stimulation can interfere with those processes.
Data from India is particularly stark. A large cross-sectional study published in 2023 involving adolescents and young adults found that 37.9% reported symptoms of depression, 33.3% symptoms of anxiety, and 43.7% high stress. These figures exist within a digital ecosystem that has expanded faster than protective structures around it.
India now has more than 800 million internet users, with over 110 million estimated to be children and adolescents. According to the 2024 Status of Education Report, 76% of children aged 14 to 16 use smartphones, primarily for social media, video consumption, and gaming. For many, online spaces are not an addition to daily life but the central arena in which identity, validation, and social comparison unfold.
A 2024 study published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry reported that nearly 1 in 3 Indian adolescents had experienced cyberbullying, often repeatedly. Parental surveys add another layer, with around two-thirds of parents believing their children show signs of addiction to social media or digital gaming. Increased irritability, impatience, and reduced family interaction are commonly reported, not as isolated incidents but as sustained patterns.
This is the blunt reality. India is facing a scale of exposure that makes inaction costly. While cultural, economic, and technological contexts differ from Australia, the developmental needs of children do not. Attention, emotional regulation, sleep, and social learning remain fragile across borders.
Australia’s policy does not offer a perfect blueprint, but it does offer a signal. Prevention is possible. Delay matters. Boundaries matter. When access is postponed and environments are structured with children’s developmental limits in mind, risk can be reduced before harm becomes entrenched.
Protecting young people from digital harm cannot sit with parents alone. It requires shared responsibility. Parents need clearer guidance and stronger support. Teachers need curricula that address digital habits alongside academic learning. Policymakers must be willing to regulate platforms whose business models depend on attention extraction. Mental health professionals must continue to speak plainly about risks without sensationalism or denial.
Preventive mental health action is rarely dramatic. Its impact is cumulative and often invisible in the short term. But it is precisely this kind of early, coordinated intervention that shapes emotionally resilient future generations.
India now faces a choice point. The evidence is no longer emerging. It is established, uncomfortable, and difficult to ignore. Recognising this moment as a call to safeguard children is not about resisting technology. It is about ensuring that childhood development is not quietly compromised by systems that children were never meant to navigate alone.
Farheen Naaz Khatoon is a certified mental health counsellor and NLP coach with a background in education, specialising in child and adolescent mental health and parenting support. She focuses on mental health awareness and guidance and can be reached @mentalhealth_coach98.