'Social media ban for below 16': Why Odisha should adopt such safeguards amid student deaths

As the world watches Australia’s decision to ban social-media access for under-16 come into effect, a quiet but urgent question echoes back home- should parts of India, especially states like Odisha, also consider safeguards.

Australia’s move, adopted after a string of suicides and mental-health crises reportedly linked to social-media pressure, underscores how unfettered access to online content can have devastating consequences for young minds. The decision has sparked fresh debate worldwide, including among parents, educators and mental-health experts in India, about the impact of ‘reels, likes and online popularity’ on children.

If such a drastic measure is being attempted there, doesn’t that suggest that waiting for tragedy before action is risky?

Odisha’s Painful Reality - When a Phone Dispute Ends in Suicide

Recent incidents across Odisha show that the danger is not abstract. In the last few years, multiple cases linked to denial of phone access, social-media or gaming pressure have ended in tragedy:

In September 2025, a 10-year-old boy in Keonjhar district, on vacation from his residential school, allegedly hanged himself after his mother refused to give him a mobile phone.

In August 2025, a 13-year-old boy in Balasore allegedly died by suicide after his father stopped him from playing online games on his phone.

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In many of these tragic instances, it was not just ‘academic stress’ or ‘family conflict’, but the smartphone or social-media use that seems to have played a pivotal, triggering role.

Smartphones and social media are not inherently harmful. But for adolescents and youth, whose identities, social circles and self-esteem are increasingly tied to digital acceptance, denial or abrupt restriction can feel like isolation, rejection and loss. 

In a world where ‘everyone else is online, visible, social, popular’, being cut off can feel devastating; and, when you add academic pressures, family conflicts, peer problems or harassment, the risk multiplies.

What Odisha Must Do Before More Lives Are Lost

- Schools, hostels and institutions must establish mental-health support systems- counselling, regular check-ins, safe spaces for students to talk.

-Awareness campaigns, for parents and educators, about responsible smartphone and social-media use, signs of distress, and dangers of abrupt restriction without support.

- Community-level interventions- youth clubs, peer support groups, helplines, especially in semi-urban or rural districts where help is scarce.

- Policy discussions- not necessarily a ban like Australia’s, but perhaps guidelines or advisories on social-media use for minors; responsible content consumption; mental-health screenings.

A Chance to Protect the Future Before It’s Too Late

Smartphone and social-media access are part of modern life; so is the need for connection, identity and belonging. But when addiction, peer pressure, digital validation or abrupt denial becomes a pressure, especially for adolescents, we must be ready with empathy, awareness and support.

For Odisha, the question is not just how to stop suicides, but how to remind ourselves that behind every device is a young mind capable of dreams, struggles and vulnerability.