New Delhi: Raising concern over excessive use of social media by youngsters, Congress MP Kadiyam Kavya urged the Modi government Thursday to ban all social media applications for those under the age of 16. Speaking in the Lower House, the Member of Parliament from Telangana’s Warangal raised concerns over excessive social media use leading to issues like depression and body image concerns amongst youngsters.
“As a mother of two children under 16 years of age, I request the government to ban social media throughout the country because of the rising rates of anxiety and mental issues like depression, body image concerns,” she said. She added that due to “lack of family relationships” and “lack of societal knowledge” (available) to these growing children as the mind is occupied by all the social media apps, they are guided in a wrong way”.
A few states, she said, have already implemented a similar ban and urged the central government to look into this matter while also pointing out that other MPs too have suggested similar measures. “…there is a problem of human trafficking, problem of self-isolation, brain fog and many more things that are happening to the children,” she said.
Previously, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda had raised similar concerns over rising screen addiction amongst children and teenagers due to excessive use of social media. He had also stressed its harmful impact on the mental and physical health of children, while urging the government to introduce stricter laws to regulate exposure.
The Karnataka government has, for instance, already issued a draft policy aimed at promoting responsible digital use among youngsters, though not a blanket ban as suggested by Kavya. In the past Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murthy had also raised the issue of social media regulation, in Parliament.
Amrin Rajpal is an alum of ThePrint School of Journalism, currently interning with ThePrint
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: UK, Denmark and now Andhra Pradesh. Is Australia’s under-16 social media ban becoming a trend?