{"id":65493,"date":"2026-01-30T21:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=65493"},"modified":"2026-01-31T11:39:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:09:36","slug":"digital-addiction-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-01-2026\/digital-addiction-mental-health","title":{"rendered":"Rising Digital Addiction &amp; Mental Health Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Economic Survey 2025-26, has flagged the rapid rise of digital addiction and screen-related mental health problems as a major healthcare issue, particularly among children and adolescents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Digital Addiction as an Emerging Public Health Issue<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Survey recognises <strong>excessive screen time and social media usage<\/strong> as contributors to <strong>anxiety, depression, attention disorders, sleep disruption, obesity, and lifestyle diseases.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Children and adolescents are identified as<strong> neurologically and psychologically more vulnerable<\/strong> to compulsive digital use due to addictive platform designs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Behavioral tracking and targeted advertising <strong>exploit children\u2019s cognitive vulnerabilities<\/strong>, reinforcing addictive consumption patterns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Recommendations of the Economic Survey 2025-26<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Age-Based Limits: <\/strong>The Survey calls for consideration of age-based limits on access to social media platforms to address growing concerns about digital addiction among children and adolescents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stricter Age Verification:<\/strong> Online platforms should be made responsible for enforcing<strong> age verification processes<\/strong> so that minors cannot easily create accounts or access content meant for adults.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Age-Appropriate Default Settings:<\/strong> Platforms should adopt age-appropriate defaults, meaning settings that are tailored to protect younger users by default.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Targeted Advertising:<\/strong> The Survey also recommends curbs on targeted advertising specifically for minors, and restrictions on features like auto-play that can exacerbate compulsive use.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Initiatives taken by Government<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2025,<\/strong> bans online money games involving wagering and introduces a licensing framework for skill-based games.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tele-MANAS, <\/strong>a 24\/7 mental health helpline with an app to assist with technology addiction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The SHUT Clinic at NIMHANS, Bengaluru,<\/strong> is India&#8217;s first specialized center dedicated to treating technology addictions, such as excessive gaming, social media use, and mobile dependence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Digital Detox Centre (&#8220;Beyond Screens&#8221;) in Karnataka<\/strong>, a resource for counseling and therapy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Global Best Practices<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Australia<\/strong> has enacted the <strong>Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act,<\/strong> making it the first country to impose a statutory minimum age of <strong>16 years<\/strong> for social media use.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>France<\/strong> has moved to <strong>restrict social media access for users under 15<\/strong>, requiring parental authorization to create accounts, with the <strong>bill passing the lower house<\/strong> in 2026.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The stress should be given on a<strong> strategic transition<\/strong> from a treatment-centric model<strong> <\/strong>to a public and <strong>preventive healthcare-led approach.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is a need for <strong>Integration of mental health services with schools <\/strong>and higher educational institutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dedicated counsellors <\/strong>must be trained and deployed at scale to normalise help-seeking behaviour among children and adolescents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Network-level safeguards <\/strong>should be strengthened through differentiated data plans that clearly separate educational usage from recreational consumption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/economic-survey-calls-for-tackling-rising-digital-addiction-as-it-hits-academic-performance-productivity\/article70564\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Economic Survey 2025-26, has flagged the rapid rise of digital addiction and screen-related mental health problems as a major healthcare issue, particularly among children and adolescents.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Digital Addiction as an Emerging Public Health Issue <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Survey recognises excessive screen time and social media usage as contributors to anxiety, depression, attention disorders, sleep disruption, obesity, and lifestyle diseases. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Children and adolescents are identified as neurologically and psychologically more vulnerable to compulsive digital use due to addictive platform designs. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Behavioral tracking and targeted advertising exploit children\u2019s cognitive vulnerabilities, reinforcing addictive consumption patterns. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-01-2026\/digital-addiction-mental-health\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65531,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65493\/revisions\/65531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}