In the teeming streets of Delhi, twelve-year-old Aarav sits hunched over his smartphone, his eyes locked on the screen. He is immersed in his virtual world. Aarav is one of the lucky ones. He has access to the internet. But for all its promises, this gift has become a silent predator. An invisible force gnaws at his attention, pulls him deeper into the web, and with each passing day, the boundaries between his real and digital life blur further.
With its vast population and booming tech sector, India is now home to one of the largest internet-using populations in the world. Over 800 million people in the country are connected online, and the number is growing every day. This digital revolution, however, is not without its casualties. More than ever, the internet is where children find themselves both nurtured and manipulated, informed and deceived, socialised and isolated.
The dangers are not always visible at first glance. In the early days of the internet, adults would often warn children about predators lurking in chat rooms or the dangers of oversharing personal information. But today, the threat is more subtle.
Aarav may not realise it. However, every time he scrolls through his social media feeds, he is feeding a machine designed to exploit his time, attention and, ultimately, his development. The apps, the games, the platforms are all designed with one purpose: to keep him hooked.
It is easy to dismiss the fear of addiction, but India, with its unique demographic profile, is facing an unprecedented crisis. The internet is everywhere—on cheap smartphones, in rural villages, in the hands of children as young as six or seven. And what begins as a simple game or a harmless chat soon morphs into something darker.
Aarav, like so many of his peers, is increasingly caught in the spiral of online addiction. It is an addiction that is not marked by the physical withdrawal symptoms we might associate with substances like alcohol or drugs. Instead, it is a psychological pull—a constant craving for the dopamine hit that comes with a new notification, like, or view. In a country where access to the internet is still considered a luxury by many, this addiction spreads quickly, leaving behind a trail of mental health crises, broken attention spans, and disconnected relationships.
The impact on India’s youth is undeniable. Research shows that more than a third of children between the ages of 12 and 18 have reported being cyberbullied at some point in their digital lives. And the results of such harassment are staggering. One in five children have missed school due to the psychological toll of being relentlessly harassed online.
However, cyberbullying is just one of the many dangers lurking in the digital landscape. There are darker corners of the web, where hate speech, violent content, and recruitment by extremist groups are probable.
Aarav’s parents, like many, believe they are protecting him by keeping the family computer in the living room and monitoring his activity. But the digital world has shifted. No longer confined to a screen in the corner of the house, the internet now follows him everywhere.
His smartphone — constantly buzzing and pinging — calls him back online. A single click can lead to a rabbit hole of disturbing content: graphic violence, self-harm blogs, or worse. The danger is omnipresent, but it is invisible. The violence is not a brick thrown through a window, but a subtle message in the mind, saying that you are worthless, that you do not belong.
Most troubling of all is the exploitation that runs rampant on the digital landscape. It is a horror that many parents are slow to recognise. Online sexual exploitation is now a thriving industry, where children—often unknowingly—become victims.
Recent reports suggest that 80 per cent of children in 25 countries have reported feeling unsafe online, especially when it comes to sexual abuse or exploitation. What was once a distant, abstract concept has become a local reality.
Predators now have access to children at the touch of a button. Platforms that promise entertainment and education also serve as vehicles for trafficking, grooming, and exploitation.
In India, where child labour and sexual exploitation have long been national tragedies, the rise of the internet has created a new set of risks. Across the country, children are being drawn into these digital traps, often without their parents’ knowledge. It is a terrifying truth that the digital age, for all its promises of progress, has also made the world more dangerous for the children it was meant to empower.
There are other dangers as well, which are more insidious and equally damaging. The way companies collect data on children, the way they target them with ads, is a form of exploitation that is difficult to trace. Every click and scroll is recorded and fed into data mining corporations that want nothing more than to shape their behaviour.
This is not just about marketing. It is about control. A child’s sense of identity, their sense of what is important, is being manipulated by the algorithms that govern their online lives. And yet, in this world of constant connectivity, few are asking whether children even have the right to remain disconnected.
The problem is not just one of technology. It is a societal issue that must be addressed at the national level. India’s children are caught between two worlds: the traditional world, where family and community offer protection, and the digital world, where no such safeguards exist.
Yet, even as the country grapples with these challenges, there is little concrete action from policymakers. Too often, children’s rights in the digital space are an afterthought. But the crisis is rife; the window for intervention is NOW.
India’s regulatory frameworks needed to protect children are still in their infancy. And in a country where the digital divide is still wide, implementing such changes will require sustained, nationwide efforts.
Yet, the real question is not about what organisations can do, but what individuals can do. Parents must understand that the internet is not an entirely safe space. They must be vigilant. They must listen and learn to navigate. They must understand that every click carries a risk, and every silence can be a missed warning.
The internet is a powerful tool—a tool that, for all its potential, comes with a price. In India, that price is being paid by the children, day in and day out. And as the virtual world expands, so too do the dangers. The question is not whether we can protect them, but whether we will.
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