In the opening minutes of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s record 17th budget speech a few days ago, he bowled a ‘doosra’. This ‘doosra’ was really different in the Indian context and a first to be put out there formally in the realm of policy-making. He made the big announcement that the state government is planning to ban the use of social media by children below the age of 16. On the very same day we hear of the Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh wanting to set the age limit of a similar move for children below 13. The Goa government has in the past spoken of similar measures. In many ways, Siddaramaiah avare has set the cat among the pigeons of this debate. In fact, he has enshrined it in his budget speech.
The budget was presented in Bengaluru, known as India’s IT capital. A city which has led the way when it comes to the making of the best pieces of software actionable for industry across the world. Bengaluru is most certainly the capital of the heritage IT-enabled services industry and is fast emerging to be at the cutting edge of new technologies, AI and hopefully quantum computing included. Even as the city and its heritage IT folk shiver and shudder under the brazen spread and impact of AI, here comes a consumer-centric move that will have social media companies worried. While the stocks of IT companies get a battering on the bourses for the moment due to AI, social media companies are going to be up and about putting their public relation mechanisms at play to counter the results that an efficient ban on social media for kids could bring.
The first question that comes up the moment you hear of such an action by a state government is the thought that this is what the central government needs to do. In that very question lies the quick mass social-sanction such a move has received by and large. Silence in this debate is whole-hearted concurrence, it seems.
Ask any parent, teacher and those exposed to young children the one question: What is the biggest distraction affecting the young in the country? The answer is clear: Social media. Eight months ago, I ran a research exercise for an institution involved in primary and secondary school education. The question was one of 20. The data was as loud as it could be. Over 94 percent of teachers said it was social media and gaming, over 4 percent said it was television and the remaining said it was all about romance and the chemistry among the young at school. The same question addressed to parents indicated some change in the data. The top score went to social media and gaming at over 81 percent, romance at 9 percent, television at 3 percent and the rest to day-dreaming. In sum, social media and gaming remains the biggest distraction of our young society of kids. Television has lost its plot and romance is struggling its way around in the lives of our kids for the moment. What’s arrived is social media. It’s time to stem the rot before it actually becomes a rot. Teachers, parents and children, in that order, are going to breathe that much more easily if this ban is really implemented.
A whole generation of youngsters in India armed with a smartphone are growing up on a staple diet of fast-food, fast-drink and fast-social media. What is being consumed is what is found tasty. The health factors of those items being consumed—either physical health or mental—are not under the consideration of most for now. In the bargain, social media rules the lives of the young. Can this distraction be done away with? There are two ways really. One is a ban on smartphones in the hands of the young. Now that’s tough, as mobile phones, tablets and desktops are key educational tools today as well. The second is a ban on social media applications for the young and the impressionable. And that’s the attempt at hand we are discussing.
The second big question that has been articulated is that bans just don’t work. In fact, they often make people rush to do the very things they are not supposed to do. Moreover, how can the government implement such a move? A lot happens within schools, and even more happens within homes. The government has no locus standi in such places. How can this ever be implemented effectively?
The answer lies in the approach taken by Australia in implementing the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act which took effect in December 2025. Their experience is worth examining. Several other countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, Slovenia, Denmark, France and Turkey have chosen to implement action on this count from this year on. And now, Karnataka has taken the lead in India.
For a start, thinking on these lines is a good beginning. What has been announced by the Karnataka government is action at the end of policy-making. This cannot remain just that. It needs to jump out of policy statements and become carefully thought-out, actionable law. It can’t remain just that; the society—both civil and uncivil—needs to run the gauntlet into action. Governments need to run campaigns, educational institutions need to incorporate the idea into the very DNA of basic education for children. Marketers must buy into the idea too and use the opportunity to educate the young as to what is important in this life stage of the child and what is not. Fast-moving consumer goods marketers who have, over decades, marketed to the kids of India need to embrace this task of positive education and correct their past wrongdoings. Kids not using social media must be made into a fashion statement. A statement of pride for the triad of child and parent and teacher.
And what must social media companies do now? Every Facebook, Instagram and YouTube must insist on age verification of new registrants. Existing users must undergo quick scrutiny, and any active accounts that do not comply will be dropped. And most importantly, social media companies must refrain from preemptive action on such bans. Please hold your PR networks back. This must be seen to be positive corrective action. This ban is an important one—one that will be a blessing to the children of India and the world at large. The happy fact is that no child is a child forever. Even these children will grow up to be adults. Catch them then, not now. Let them be. Let’s remember, it’s social media. Not anti-social media.
Harish Bijoor | Brand guru & founder of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc
(Views are personal)
(harishbijoor@hotmail.com)