Economic survey flags dangerous digital addiction among India’s youth

The Economic Survey 2025–26, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, has flagged the rapid rise of digital addiction and screen-related mental health challenges in India, particularly among children and adolescents.

Describing the trend as alarming, the report warns that excessive engagement with smartphones, social media, gaming, and online platforms is beginning to take a measurable toll on wellbeing, learning outcomes, and long-term economic productivity.

The survey defines digital addiction as a pattern of persistent, excessive, or compulsive use of digital devices and online activities that leads to psychological distress and functional impairment.

According to the report, such behaviour increasingly manifests as reduced concentration, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and declining academic or workplace performance. Over time, it also weakens social capital by eroding peer networks, lowering community participation, and diminishing offline social skills.

Beyond personal and social consequences, the report points to wider economic costs.

These include direct financial losses from impulsive online spending, gaming, and cyber fraud, as well as indirect losses through reduced employability, lower productivity, and diminished lifetime earnings.

Compulsive digital use, the survey notes, is closely linked to anxiety, stress, depression, and sleep disorders, especially among students under academic pressure and those exposed to cyberbullying and high-stimulus digital platforms.

Some experts hailed that the report had flagged the dramatically rising health challenge in the country.

‘Digital overuse has a detrimental effect on not only mental health but also the well-being of the younger generation and a key reason why several lifestyle diseases are showing up at a far younger age due to reduced physical activities,” said Dr Rajiv Mehta, senior consultant psychiatrist with the Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science

‘SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION’

The report raises particular concern over social media addiction, which it says is strongly associated with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, cyberbullying stress, and higher suicide rates.

Multiple Indian and global studies, it notes, confirm the high prevalence of these issues among young people aged 15 to 24.

Despite these risks, digital engagement continues to deepen. In 2024, nearly half of India’s internet users watched online videos, while 43 per cent accessed social media, 40 per cent used email or streamed music, and 26 per cent made digital payments. In absolute numbers, this translates to around 40 crore users on OTT video and food delivery platforms and close to 35 crore on social media.

As a result, the survey says, India’s youth are growing up in an intensely digital environment.

While digital access has expanded opportunities for learning, employment, and civic participation, the survey stresses that access is no longer the binding constraint, particularly among those aged 15 to 29, where mobile and internet usage is nearly universal.

The policy focus, it argues, must now shift towards behavioural health concerns, including addiction risks, content quality, wellbeing impacts, and digital hygiene.

To address the challenge, the survey recommends a range of structured interventions.

These include cyber-safety education, peer-mentor programmes, mandatory physical activity in schools, parental training on screen-time management, age-appropriate digital access policies, and greater accountability for online platforms hosting harmful content.

Families, it adds, should be encouraged to adopt screen-time limits, device-free hours, and shared offline activities.

GOOD EXAMPLES FROM ABROAD

The report also draws on international examples. Australia has introduced some of the world’s strictest measures against youth digital addiction, including a nationwide ban on social media accounts for children below a certain age.

South Korea’s 2011 “Shutdown Law,” which restricted minors from accessing gaming websites after midnight, was later replaced by parental control models, while China enforces strict gaming limits through a real-name registration and “fatigue” system that caps playtime to one hour per day on weekends and holidays.

Singapore has taken a community-based approach through its Media Literacy Council, promoting cyber wellness and responsible digital citizenship across schools and public platforms.

Several countries, including France, Spain, Finland, Japan, Brazil, Australia, South Korea, and some US states, have also moved to restrict smartphone use in classrooms through bans, limits, or curfews to reduce distractions and protect student wellbeing.

For India, the survey suggests additional measures such as creating offline youth hubs, promoting voluntary “digital diets,” introducing education-only digital devices for children, and expanding the government’s Tele-MANAS mental health helpline.

Taken together, the report argues, these steps are essential to ensure that India’s digital future does not come at the cost of its young population’s mental health and social development.

– Ends