Reclaiming childhood from devices – The Hindu

The echoing sounds of childhood games such as street hide-and-seek, catch and catch, and gully cricket have been replaced by a new eerie silence. Just a few years ago, the social “currency” of a child would be defined by a well-used football, a prized collection of marbles, or the sought-after ability to cycle without the hands on the handle. Now, this currency has changed to a “digital” currency, and children no longer walk on the streets. Instead, children walk around staring at screens with bats and balls replaced by smartphones. Instead of children playing games, they become puppets controlled by the “like, share, and subscribe” button.

The first case of a child falling victim to this kind of culture happened just recently. The child from the Delhi suburbs who wanted to be a ‘vlogger’ was inspired by lifestyle influencers. He wanted to use “unboxing videos” and “home tour videos” to gain subscribers.

He carefully revealed each room in his house, from his father’s study to the “secret” closet where the family stored valuables. A few days later, the video was an actual blueprint for thieves. After analysing his posts and noticing the family went out because the mother posted a story, the thieves picked the house and took the safe. His digital self-validation turned his house into a crime scene and showed that when people encouraged children to live in a digital glass house, it meant giving the keys to their house to everyone on the web. The thieves turned the digital house into a crime scene.

Most people see this as an isolated incident, but it shows the wider, deeper, and much more dangerous crisis this world faces: the hijacking of the adolescent brain by Big Tech. For today’s digital natives, self-identity does not come from quiet reflection or from the challenges of play in the real world but in the loud, performative arena of social media. The “like” button is not simply a technical function; it is a social and psychological stimulus.

Social media gives posts fake engagement and feedback with dopamine rushes and crashes. Children’s brains experience dopamine highs when a post gets a lot of likes and comments. This is similar to gambling and drug use and is just as dangerous. When posts do not go the way a child predicted, the drop in dopamine creates increased feelings of anxiety, depression, and a lowered sense of worth.

Psychologists are struggling to help children who measure their value based on the binary values of social media. In a world where children are trending or completely invisible, they are missing out on social friction. In the real world, children need to work together and have a sense of community. In the online world, children have a huge lack of empathy and have an increased need for social media notifications.

As a response to the digital gap and the mental health crisis, Australia was in the news for implementing a new law in December 2025 that is the first complete ban on social media use by those under 16 years of age.

The new law grossly fines companies such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X. It puts the responsibility on these companies to keep children under the age of 18 from accessing their services or they lose 50 million Australian dollars. Australian officials used addictive algorithm comparisons to determine the nature of their business to the public. It makes sense that the children’s digital playground is unregulated and their developing minds are incapable of understanding the true addictive nature of the platforms. It is becoming a matter of public health on its own, requiring Australian officials to take the lead on the issue. The addictive nature of the platforms is on a par with that of alcohol and tobacco.

Digital addiction

India has similar public health concerns. The Economic Survey of 2025-26 flagged “digital addiction” as a major public health concern. The study revealed 74% of teenagers in India use their phone with a purpose-built social media app rather than educational tool. There are also social structures in India that prohibit a similar iteration of the Australian ban. Unlike a borderless digital divide, India holds educational resources and social mobility built into the Internet.

Anyone living in a rural area would not have a great way to prepare for competitive exams or vocational coaching because they would not have a way to get this type of coaching. There a total ban on smartphone use would deepen existing inequalities by preventing disadvantaged youth from accessing the same resources that their wealthier peers can access through private tutoring or sophisticated technical workarounds like VPNs.

Also, given more than 400 million social media users, age verification seems to be a tremendously unfair work by placing a significant financial burden on parents across various identification systems. There is a chance that a total ban would push children to more dangerous, unregulated, and unmonitored “dark” platforms beyond the reach of parental and educational oversight. Instead of simply implementing a ban, India could use a more reasonable “regulate, not rescind” approach. This would require a shift to algorithmic accountability, where the platforms are required by law to remove features that encourage addiction such as limitless scrolling and active push notifications for all users under 18.

Accepting this approach also means the teaching of digital hygiene within the general framework for educating and socialising children. Children must know that they are not a convertible commodity. This must also be accompanied by the public reinvestment in the world outside the digital spheres.

We need to give children positive options to hang out, such as creating more community playgrounds, local sports leagues, and safe hangout spots where they can grab a stick and ball and go play.

The years of childhood should be the time to explore the world, and develop the ability to deal with challenges and pressures without the permanent judgment of an anonymous online audience. Either through new laws or changes in how we parent, we need to end the digitally virtual trend. Counter the parenting trend of ignoring reality and teach the next generation the value of real experiences, not the empty worth of followers, subscribers or likes. Our aim is not to block the world from our children, but to teach them about the real world, which is much more than a five-inch touchscreen.

nishunasugumar@gmail.com

Published – March 29, 2026 03:55 am IST