New Delhi, February 11 A member of the Rajya Sabha from the Congress party expressed concern on Wednesday over the rising mental health crisis among adolescents due to social media, saying, "young people are unable to distinguish between reality and the fantasy world."
In recent weeks, there have been instances of young students committing suicide, apparently due to the negative effects of excessive use of online platforms, including loneliness and isolation.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour, Congress MP Jebi Mather Hisham referred to an incident in Chotanikara, near Kochi, where a 16-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide after the death of an online friend.
The MP said she spoke with her teacher and principal this morning, and they shared her concern about how social media is influencing young people and adolescents.
"They share the concern that children, these adolescents and young people, are unable to distinguish between reality and the fantasy world. They will create a virtual world, influenced by social media, and especially, they share the concern about this Korean content, online games, and pop culture that is now available in the country," Hisham said.
She also referred to the alleged suicides of three sisters in Ghaziabad, who also had connections with Korean content.
"So, all of this made me think that children, who should be playing, laughing, learning, and acquiring skills from school and teachers, are taking such extreme steps of suicide," the MP from Kerala said.
Emphasizing that the matter requires serious attention from the government, she said recent data shows behavioral patterns, cyberbullying, and the tendency to commit suicide.
"And all of this is linked to the situation in which they are living," she said, making a strong case for integrating mental health issues with academics.
In his Zero Hour mention, Ashok Kumar Mittal (AAP) stressed the need for holding public servants accountable to curb administrative apathy in the wake of deaths due to potholes and the delayed response of the administration.
