06 September,2026 09:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Vinod Kumar Menon
Illustrations/Uday Mohite
For millions of Indians, the smartphone is now the first thing they reach for after waking and the last thing they put down before sleeping. A game offers achievement without leaving the room. Social media offers company without conversation. Short videos offer stimulation without effort. Online platforms can provide an instant escape from boredom, loneliness, anxiety or disappointment.
And that is where the danger beginsâ¦.
The real concern is not that every child who plays a game or every young person who spends hours on Instagram is addicted. It is that the screen can gradually become an emotional refuge - the place to go whenever real life becomes difficult.
And when the virtual world begins replacing sleep, studies, physical activity, friendships and family conversations, what began as entertainment can turn into dependence.
Five cases from different parts of India illustrate how disturbing that progression can become.
August 3, Surat: A 13-year-old, Class 7 student in Surat's Ved Road area died by suicide after his father repeatedly asked him to stop playing games on his phone and complete his homework, police said. The boy handed the phone to his mother after being scolded and went into another room, where he was later found unresponsive. The case does not establish gaming as the sole cause.
February 4, Ghaziabad: Three sisters, aged 16, 14 and 12, died after jumping from the ninth floor of their Bharat City apartment in Loni, Ghaziabad, police said. Investigators said the girls had become deeply immersed in a Korean-themed, task-based online game during Covid, missing school and spending much of their time in its virtual world. Police recovered a handwritten note and diary material. Their parents had reportedly tried restricting gaming and phone use.
June 9, 2025, Mumbai: A 14-year-old girl died by suicide at a tribal hamlet in Aarey Colony after her parents refused to give her a mobile phone to play a game, police said. The incident occurred in Unit 22. The case does not establish that gaming alone caused her death, but highlights how intensely important digital activities can become in an adolescent's life.
February 17-18, 2025, Mysuru: Joshi Antony died by suicide on February 17 near a cemetery in Ramanahalli. The following morning, his twin brother Jobi Antony and his wife were found dead near a water tank in Vijayanagar. Police reports linked their deaths to online gaming, betting and a debt of R80 lakh to fund their habits.
July 6, 2025, Hyderabad: Software engineer V Pavan Kumar, 24, was found dead in the bathroom of his paying guest accommodation in Yellareddyguda, Hyderabad. Police found no suicide note but reportedly traced his circumstances through his phone, which showed involvement in online rummy, mounting debts and loans from multiple lending apps. The case highlights how online gambling can turn a smartphone into a gateway to repeated financial risk.
Recent cases of suicides linked to screen usage raise a question that parents across the country are increasingly confronting: Why does losing access to a screen sometimes trigger an emotional reaction far greater than losing a game warrants?
New research from National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, asks a different question: What is the phone being used for?
That question takes us beyond the familiar debate over "screen time" and towards something much more complicated - why young people are increasingly turning to digital spaces to regulate their emotions.
A study by Dr Anamika Sahu, Ankita Dhiman and Dr Manoj Sharma of the Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS, published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science on June 4, examines the relationship between problematic smartphone use, problematic social media use, and psychological distress among young adults.
The study - evaluating 779 young adults aged 18 to 25 - is important for one reason in particular: It does not simply ask how many hours people spend on their phones, but examines problematic patterns of use and their relationship with depression, anxiety, and stress.The most striking number it throws up is 75.87 - the percentage of respondents who say they use their phones when they feel lonely.
Dr Anamika Sahu
Other responses are equally revealing. A hefty 60.2 per cent say they feel bad when their phone is not nearby, and more than half of them (53.79 per cent) check their phone first thing in the morning.
The finding about loneliness is particularly significant; it does not mean smartphones create loneliness. It does, however, raise another possibility: that loneliness may drive people towards digital engagement, while excessive use may then further displace offline interaction. That creates a potentially vicious cycle.
Loneliness >> phone >> temporary relief >> prolonged digital engagement >> less offline interaction >> greater isolation >> more phone use
The researchers discuss this possibility and point to the role of social and emotional factors in problematic digital behaviour.
Checking your phone because you're lonely? It might just leave you feeling more disconnected from offline companionship. Pic/istock
The participants report average Internet use of approximately two hours and 50 minutes a day. But once again, the study makes an important distinction: Time alone does not define addiction.
People use phones for education, work, communication, entertainment, banking, shopping and social interaction. The issue is when use becomes difficult to control, and begins to interfere with ordinary life, or becomes the preferred way of dealing with uncomfortable emotions.
That is why the NIMHANS researchers examined problematic use rather than simply counting hours. They used the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) to assess psychological distress. In the study, 36.07 per cent report depressive symptoms, while 42.36 per cent report anxiety symptoms.
Ankita Dhiman
These figures do not mean that these participants had a clinical diagnosis of depression or an anxiety disorder. The study measured symptoms using a screening scale, not clinical diagnoses.
The findings that truly change the debate come from the researchers examining problematic smartphone use (PSU) and problematic social media use (PSMU). Problematic social media use significantly predicts depression, anxiety, and stress. But problematic smartphone use itself does not independently predict those psychological outcomes after age and gender were controlled for.
In other words, it is not simply the smartphone, but the pattern of use that matters. The study also states that users who are younger and female are associated with higher psychological distress, suggesting potential vulnerability factors.
But does social media cause this distress? The study does not say that. And this is where the research needs to be read carefully rather than sensationally. Because it was a cross-sectional study, it cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Researchers cannot determine whether excessive social media use leads to depression, anxiety and stress, or whether people experiencing loneliness, depression or anxiety are more likely to turn towards social media. It could even work both ways.
Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, professor of Clinical Psychology and director of NIMHANS's SHUT (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic, says the focus should move beyond simply counting screen hours. What matters is whether digital use is beginning to interfere with a young person's ability to manage everyday responsibilities and maintain a healthy routine.
As Dr Sharma points out, digital behaviour can become problematic when it starts functioning as a person's primary response to discomfort, while ordinary sources of balance - sleep, physical activity, studies, family interaction and offline interests - gradually lose space.
His clinical experience adds another dimension: young people increasingly do not have one neat "digital addiction". They may move seamlessly from gaming to reels, from reels to social media, from social media to live streams - and use all of them to escape the same underlying feelings.
That is why the question facing parents, schools and policymakers should no longer be simply: "How much screen time is too much?" The more important question is: "What happens to a young person's real life when the digital world becomes more rewarding than the real one?" India cannot and should not raise a generation without technology.
For families, instead of asking only, "How many hours are you on the phone?", it may be more useful to ask: "What are you doing online, what are you avoiding offline, and what happens when you try to stop?"
The answer is not to make children fear the smartphone. It is to help them develop the ability to put it down. Because healthy digital use is not measured by how long a person can remain online. It is measured by whether they can still be happy, connected and emotionally secure when the screen is switched off.
For many parents, the first response to excessive screen use is straightforward: take away the phone, delete the game, or block the app. But the more useful intervention may begin with understanding what the screen has come to replace.
Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, director of NIMHANS's SHUT Clinic, stresses the need to look beyond the device and examine how excessive digital use is affecting a young person's everyday functioning. That means watching for changes that are harder to dismiss as ordinary teenage behaviour - disrupted sleep, declining academic performance, withdrawal from physical activity, fewer face-to-face interactions, or an inability to cut back despite repeated attempts.
"The real test," says Dr Sharma, " is not âHow many hours is too many?' It is, âWhat is the screen replacing - sleep, study, sports, friends, family? Or the ability to cope with difficult emotions?"
The practical fix may not be a sudden digital shutdown but a deliberate rebuilding of offline life. A gaming hour can be replaced with sport or another activity that offers challenge. Endless scrolling can make way for social interaction, hobbies or family time. A phone-free bedtime can help restore a sleep routine disrupted by excessive screen use.
The objective is not to keep young people away from technology. It is to ensure that technology remains part of their lives without crowding out the life around it. "Beyond the number of hours spent on screens, we need to recognise that technology is now an integral part of our lives. What matters is the relationship we develop with it. Social media can foster social connection and serve a protective function, but it can also expose us to upward social comparisons that affect how we see ourselves," says Ankita Dhiman, doctoral scholar at NIMHANS and clinical psychologist.
>> âCan the child stop when asked? Is there repeated anger or distress on being asked?
>> âIs sleep affected? Are they staying awake to play/scroll?
>> âIs academic performance suffering? Is there homework undone, or is concentration slipping?
>> âSocial withdrawal: Are offline friendships disappearing?
>> âHas physical activity reduced sharply?
>> âIs the phone being used to manage emotions? "I'm lonely/bored, so I need my phone."
>> âIs there secrecy involved in their phone usage?
>> âAre they gambling or making uncontrolled purchases?
>> âDoes the behaviour continue despite harm?
Most importantly, don't just take something away. Give something back. Replace phone usage with:
>> âSports
>> âConversation
>> âFriends
>> âResponsibility
>> âGive them something at which they can succeed
>> âGive them somewhere to go when they are bored
>> âGive them a safe space to talk about why they want to disappear into the screen in the first place
According to Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, the study gauges problematic smartphone and social media use on a scale of technology addiction. For the layperson's understanding, it might be time to consider problematic use if one has four or five of these indicators:
Craving: Continuous desire to use
Control: Loss of control whenever user starts using any platform
Coping: Predominant way to cope with psychological states
Compulsion: Becomes a habit
Consequences: Continued use despite psychosocial consequences
The first mistake is to reduce the entire problem to hours. A teenager playing a game for three hours during a holiday is not necessarily addicted.
Pics/istock
"Awareness that we are turning to our devices to soothe or regulate ourselves can be the beginning of change. Replacing that reliance with real-world support, meaningful interaction and active problem-solving can help us build healthier ways of coping," said Dr Anamika Sahu, assistant professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS.
1 Recognise: Find out what the child is actually doing online and why.
2 Reduce: Create predictable phone-free periods - particularly during meals, study and before bedtime.
3 Replace: Fill the space created by reducing screen use with sport, hobbies, friends, outdoor activity and family interaction.
4 Reach out: If sleep, education, relationships, mood, or day-to-day functioning are deteriorating, or the young person appears unable to control the behaviour, seek professional help.
For parents looking for a practical solution, the intervention can begin with just one day with a digital reset for the family.
First hour after waking: No recreational phone use
Meals: Phones away
Afternoon: Outdoor activity
Evening: Defined recreational screen period
One hour before sleep: No recreational screens
Night: Phones charged outside bedrooms
They recommend the â4 Rs'
If someone is in immediate danger of self-harm, call emergency services (112) or seek urgent medical assistance.
>> âTele-MANAS (central government helpline): 14416 or 1-800-891-4416
(Free, 24x7 mental health counselling and support)
>> âAASRA: +91 98204 66726
(24x7 suicide prevention helpline)
>> âSneha Foundation: +91 44 2464 0050
(Emotional support and suicide prevention services)
>> â iCALL (by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences): +91 91529 87821
(Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 8 pm)
Shut (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic, NIMHANS, is India's first Technology de-addiction clinic
Helpline number is 9480829675
(Fridays, 9.30 am-4.30 pm)
Email: shutclinic@gmail.com; nimhans.wellbeing@gmail.com
75.87%
Youths use their phone when lonely
60.2%
Feel bad when phone was not nearby
57.89%
Use it when bored
53.79%
Check their phone first thing in the morning
41.46%
Use their phone more than intended
Nearly 3 hours
Average amount of time spent on screens
' Source: NIMHANS study
