March 27, 2026
Derek O’Brien’s Zero Hour mention on the need to address digital addiction and its effects specially on the mental health of the youth
Hon. Chairman, Sir, studies are showing that children and youth are spending up to eight hours a day on screens and their mobile phones, that means more than 100 days every year. In fact, 68 countries in the world have stopped mobile phones from entering schools. Because once this happens, what happens? Sleep patterns change, there is a risk of anxiety and mood swings. Sadly, annually, about 20,000 children are committing suicide because of this digital addiction. Actually, what happens is that there is a dopamine spike. Dopamine spike means the brain receives a rapid reward signal, which reinforces the behaviour and this produces what is known as digital addiction. But, I do not want to only state the problem. Here are some suggestions for youth as well as for adults. One: When you go to pick up your phone, ask yourself, ‘Why are you picking up your phone?’ And experts say, one trick is, you count up to 10 before you touch your phone. One, two, three, four, five, — you count up to 10 — then only you pick up your phone. The second suggestion, people say, is: When you are charging your phone, keep it in another room. The third suggestion is: Two hours before you go to sleep, do not touch your mobile phone. And, the fourth one is: What is termed as the sound of silence — no screen time, no phone time. But, this is difficult to achieve because, sometimes, when you are looking at the screen, your brain will get scrambled That is one example. It is happening now. No, Sir, I am on a serious issue. I have got three suggestions. One, encourage mindful usage. Two, promote offline activities. And three, let us have more conversations about mental health. I appeal to the Government to discuss this issue of digital addiction. Let us together take it up, including youth mental health. And, I want to leave you with a thought. Few weeks from now, we ourselves will take this up in Bengal when Ms. Mamata Banerjee is voted back as the fourth time Chief Minister. Thank you, Sir.
