When Screens Become the Only World Children Know
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2026-02-06 06:29:41
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The India Commentary view
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The deaths of three minor sisters in Ghaziabad are being discussed as a shocking aberration. They are not. They are a grim warning of a deeper rupture in how childhood and adolescence are unfolding in India today.
Economic stress, fractured families and prolonged school disengagement after Covid have converged with an unchecked digital immersion. For many children, the online world has ceased to be a supplement to life; it has become life itself. Screens now function as caregivers, companions and escape routes. They also magnify isolation, reinforce exclusion and deepen emotional vulnerability.
India is witnessing a steady rise in student suicides, even as surveys show alarming levels of anxiety and depression among adolescents. Parents and teachers, often unfamiliar with the digital cultures their children inhabit, struggle to intervene meaningfully. Monitoring becomes superficial, conversations strained, trust brittle. The generational gap is no longer merely cultural; it is algorithmic.
Policy responses are beginning to take shape globally, with tighter age limits and safeguards for minors on social media. These debates are necessary, but they are insufficient. Regulation cannot substitute for presence, attention and emotional anchoring. Nor can it repair the erosion of community spaces where children once felt seen beyond screens.
What is required is a recalibration of priorities: restoring schools as stable social environments, equipping parents with digital literacy, and recognising adolescent mental health as a public issue rather than a private failure. Most of all, children need adults who are not just guardians, but witnesses to their inner lives.
When escape becomes identity, and withdrawal masquerades as choice, tragedy is no longer unpredictable. It is structural. And unless that structure is confronted, such deaths will keep being described as isolated - long after they have ceased to be so.
