WHO Flags Social Media, Gaming, AI as Major Child Health Threats

The World Health Organization has made an unusual move for a global health body: it has named the digital world itself as a threat to children's wellbeing. In a joint statement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and French President Emmanuel Macron called on governments worldwide to treat social media, online gaming, and generative artificial intelligence as major determinants of child health—placing them alongside nutrition, physical activity, and sleep as factors that shape how young people develop.

The warning is grounded in accumulating evidence. Researchers have linked excessive time spent on digital platforms to anxiety, depression, disrupted sleep, increased aggression, feelings of isolation, and in severe cases, suicidal behavior among children and adolescents. The WHO also flagged secondary harms: online sexual exploitation, AI-generated child abuse material, the spread of false information, and algorithmic marketing designed to capture young attention.

What makes this particularly difficult for parents and educators is that the damage often arrives quietly. Dr. Nand Kumar, a psychiatry professor at AIIMS, notes that children don't typically show up at a psychiatrist's office complaining about screen time. Instead, the effects surface gradually in their daily lives—a shift in mood, a change in focus, a withdrawal from the world around them.

India is already seeing these patterns in concrete form. A survey by the National Council of CBSE Schools, which gathered responses from nearly 630,000 students, found that three-quarters of them spend more than two hours daily on screens for purposes unrelated to schoolwork. One in five spends over four hours a day on mobile devices, gaming, and social platforms. Teachers across the country are reporting the consequences: nearly seven in ten say they've noticed declining concentration and attention in their classrooms, nearly two-thirds report students showing signs of anxiety and irritability, and about two-thirds say children are participating less in outdoor play and activities.

The Indian government's own Economic Survey for 2025-26 has formally identified digital addiction as an emerging public health crisis, particularly among teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24. The document connects excessive screen use to anxiety, depression, low self-worth, cyberbullying, compulsive scrolling, gaming disorders, and social isolation. The demand for mental health support reflects this reality. Since October 2022, the government's Tele-MANAS helpline has fielded more than 3.2 million calls—a measure of how many families are seeking help.

Several Indian states have begun moving toward regulation. Karnataka has proposed banning social media access for children under 16. Andhra Pradesh has suggested similar restrictions for those under 13. Goa is exploring comparable measures. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia recently, he publicly praised that country's decision to prohibit children under 16 from accessing platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and X. He indicated that India is studying the Australian approach and considering what lessons it might apply domestically.

The WHO's framing—treating digital exposure as a health determinant rather than a parenting problem—represents a shift in how the world's leading health authority thinks about childhood development. It moves the conversation from individual responsibility to systemic design: the question is no longer just what parents should do, but what platforms should be required to do, and what governments should mandate.