Page 47 - EW February 2026

Young social media users: mental health & well-being jeopardy

children are not for sale — neither to American platforms social media exposure and its harmful consequences.
nor Chinese networks,” said President Emmanuel Ma- However, the Aussie government’s initiative to strike at
cron endorsing the legislation. the root of the problem — to hold the handful of multi-
These countries’ unprecedented initiative targeting the billion dollar valuation American and Chinese corporations
small number of identifiable user-generated content shar- that have invented the technologies to ensnare hundreds of
ing platforms — rather than placing the onus on parents as millions of children and youth to become addicted to their
hitherto — marks an inflection point in the global conver- platforms (Meta’s Facebook and Instagram each have 3 bil-
sation on how to protect children from the mind blowing lion monthly active subscribers globally) accountable — is
socio-emotional ravages of seductive and addictive social a stroke of genius. It shifts the onus to these corporations
media. It has drawn praise, criticism and intense debate to carefully scan subscribers/users to ensure that children
globally and several countries — including the UK, Den- and teens are denied access.
mark, Spain, Malaysia, Germany, Italy and Greece — are Urgency to enact similar legislation in India is impera-
contemplating similar bans on social media use by minors. tive because contemporary India negligently hosts the
Awareness of the harmful impact of addictive social world’s largest child and youth population under 18 years
media apps and platforms has been swelling in India too. of age whose number aggregates 436.6 million.
Several child rights organisations such as Child Rights & Sub-optimally educated and inadequately mentored by
You (CRY), Child Fund India, and Freedom Foundation illiterate and/or quasi-literate parents, this segment of the
have been campaigning for stronger child online-safety population is particularly vulnerable to the seductive ap-
regulation — age-gating/age assurance, safer defaults, and peal of social media platforms that provide 24x7 ‘entertain-
limits on data use for children. Moreover, several state gov- ment’ in the form of personal connectivity, chat and dating
ernments, notably Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, have sites, video reels with thin story lines and pornography.
constituted expert committees to advise them on the issue. In January 2025, India reported 491 million social media
ParentsWorld — EducationWorld’s affiliate magazine — users, of which Facebook recorded 378 million users, Snap-
has run several cover stories advising parents on ways and chat over 208 million, Instagram 414 million and YouTube
means to safeguard children and teens against excessive 491 million. While exact number of minors accessing these

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