Indian Parents Fear Children's Rising Screen Addiction; 25% Want Aadhaar-Based Consent: Survey
The survey claims to have received over 57,000 responses from parents of school children aged between 9 to 18 located in 302 districts of urban India.
The majority of parents in a survey admitted that their children are addicted to online platforms like social media, gaming etc., digital survey platform LocalCircles said on Monday.
The online survey conducted between Nov. 15 and Dec. 18, 2025, found that 25% of urban Indian parents surveyed still believe that India should operationalise mandatory parental consent for children joining social media, OTT and online gaming platforms via Aadhaar authentication.
"2 in 3 urban Indian parents of children between ages 9-17 and surveyed admitted that their children were addicted to one or more of the three mediums i.e. social media, videos or online gaming and in some cases multiple of these mediums," LocalCircles, Founder, Sachin Taparia said.
According to the survey, some children spend more than six hours every day on mobile phones.
"With the new DPDP (Digital Personal Data Protection) Act, parental consent has been made mandatory for children under 18 to join social media platforms; however, the age validation mechanism is left to the platforms. When parents were asked about how the age verification should be operationalized, 25% of urban Indian parents surveyed still want mandatory parental consent to be done through Aadhaar authentication," the survey report said.
The survey claims to have received over 57,000 responses from parents of school children aged between 9 -18 located in 302 districts of urban India but the number of replies varied from question to question.
In response to a question on the emotional impact of online platforms on children, 18,523 parents opted for multiple options.
Around 61% said that their wards have become impatient, 58% said they have become aggressive, 50% observed children becoming hyperactive, 47% noted children becoming lethargic. Out of the total, 11% found that children became happier, and 3% said that they had become more social.
A recent study released by smartphone company Vivo had also said that the majority of children and parents feel they can converse more comfortably and build stronger bonds when they spend moments together without a phone.
The vivo Switch Off Study 2025 which covered 1,517 smartphone owners comprising 1,017 parents and 500 children across the top eight cities, found that children primarily use their devices for entertainment, self-expression and personal downtime, and they tend to put their phones aside when they feel seen and heard.
Parents, however, often slip into habitual micro-checking triggered by work notifications or routine behaviour, which sends signals of emotional unavailability, the study said.
