Economic Survey flags excessive screen time as public health risk for India’s youth

The Economic Survey 2025–26, tabled in Parliament in January 2026, has identified excessive use of digital devices among young Indians as a major public health concern, warning that it could undermine productivity and weaken the country’s demographic dividend.

Presenting the survey, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran described compulsive scrolling as a “silent scourge” and cited steps taken by Andhra Pradesh and Goa to limit social media access for children under 16. The measures, he noted, echo recent legislation adopted in Australia.

With an estimated 500 million social media users in India, including a large number of minors, the survey points to mounting mental health risks driven by algorithms designed to maximise engagement. It notes that many young users spend between five and seven hours a day on social platforms.

To address the issue, the survey proposes stronger age-verification norms, limits on autoplay features, restrictions on targeted advertising to minors and greater accountability for digital platforms. It points to the Online Gaming (Regulation) Act 2025, which bans money-based wagering, as a possible template for curbing addictive behaviour and associated financial harm.

Beyond regulation, the survey places responsibility on families and service providers. It urges households to introduce device-free hours and consider basic phones for children. Network providers are encouraged to design data plans that separate educational from recreational use, with default blocks on high-risk content.

Evidence cited in the report underlines the scale of the problem. A 2024 cross-sectional study of 1,392 adolescents and young adults linked higher screen time with symptoms of depression in 37.9 per cent of respondents, anxiety in 33.3 per cent and high stress in 43.7 per cent. National studies on children under five show average daily screen time of 2.22 hours, exceeding World Health Organization guidelines, with particularly high exposure reported in parts of the Northeast and links to poor dietary habits.

The survey also highlights gaps in mental healthcare capacity. India has about 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, far below the WHO-recommended level of three, with services concentrated in urban centres. Shortages are especially acute in the Northeast and other underserved regions. Facilities such as the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health are described as crucial but insufficient to meet regional demand.

As a partial response, the national mental health helpline Tele-MANAS has handled more than 2.4 million calls since 2022 through over 53 centres. The survey suggests expanding the programme and linking digital addiction support more closely with schools.

Experts quoted in the survey caution that blanket bans could drive young users towards unregulated online spaces, arguing instead for a balance between regulation and digital literacy. Usage data underscore the challenge: Indians logged an estimated 1.1 trillion hours on smartphones in 2024, while ASER 2024 found that only 57 per cent of 14–16-year-olds used phones primarily for education, compared with 76 per cent for social media.

Alongside mental health, Nageswaran drew attention to rising obesity and lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases as risks to the demographic dividend, calling for better food labelling and preventive care. While acknowledging gains in maternal and child health, the survey stresses that safeguarding the physical and mental wellbeing of working-age Indians—particularly the young—will be critical to sustaining economic growth for the country’s 1.4 billion citizens.