Economic Survey calls for social media age limit

The Economic Survey 2025-26 has called on the Government to implement age-based limits for social media usage for children and digital advertisements targeted at them, a proposal that could shake up companies like Meta and Google in what is their biggest user base market in the world.

According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, social media addiction is strongly linked to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and cyberbullying-related stress among young people, and it warned, flagging digital addiction as a growing public health and social concern with implications for India’s demographic dividend.

The Survey’s recommendation stems from the larger concerns surrounding “digital addiction” among young users. The Survey tabled in Parliament has identified digital addiction as a rising problem impacting the mental health of youth and adults.

It noted measures by various countries, including Australia, China, and South Korea, and called for several interventions, besides the ongoing efforts of various Government departments. “Policies on age-based access limits may be considered, as younger users are more vulnerable to compulsive use and harmful content. Platforms should be made responsible for enforcing age verification and age-appropriate defaults, particularly for social media, gambling apps, auto-play features, and targeted advertising,” the Survey said.

The Survey has called for educating families and encouraged them to promote screen-time limits, device-free hours, and shared offline activities.

It has called for conducting parental workshops through schools and community centres to train guardians in setting healthy boundaries, recognising signs of addiction, and using parental control tools effectively.

“Promoting simpler devices for children, such as basic phones or education-only tablets, along with enforced usage limits and content filters, can further reduce exposure to harmful material, including violent, sexual, or gambling-related content,” the Survey said.

It said network layer safeguards, such as internet service provider-level interventions that can complement such measures by offering family data plans with differentiated quotas for educational versus recreational apps and default blocking of high-risk categories, with opt-in overrides available to guardians.

Taking cognisance of the rise in digital addiction, the Survey has called for comprehensive interventions to address the problem, which is adversely impacting academic performance, workplace productivity, and mental health of youth as well as adults.