India’s proposed social media ban for under-18s wins parents’ backing

Digangana Mukherjee, a mother of a six-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, has banned television at her home in the Indian city of Mysore because she does not want her children to become addicted to watching content on screen.

A year ago, when her son’s school started using a smart classroom board that streamed online content, she and her husband decided to enrol him in a school where teachers used chalk on a slate board, and the pace of lessons was slower.

Now, she is happy that the Indian government is reportedly planning to prevent children below 18 years from opening social media accounts under a new law, in line with a Supreme Court ruling that such accounts signed up by minors should be considered void.

“I approve of it as a parent. My son is 10 and knows how to browse YouTube. It is already becoming scary for me. I don’t know what content is visible to him,” Mukherjee said.