It’s funny to think that as parents, we used to immensely look forward to any little response, word, or movement from our child. The first steps are a monumental moment in every parent’s life and are often captured for eternity on our cameras for us to remember. Today, our children learn to respond to devices or learn to swipe before taking their first step - and this is probably just the beginning.
Today, India stands at a critical juncture where its demographic advantage, as one of the world’s largest child and adolescent populations, intersects with the unprecedented digital expansion. According to Internet and Mobile Association of India (2020), an estimated 71 million children aged between 5-11 years access the internet on devices of their family members.[1] Among the individuals in the age-group 15-29 years, approximately 92.7% persons reported using internet.[2] Alongside the rapidly increasing access to internet among children, according National Crime Record Bureau’s Crime in India report 2024, there has been an exponential rise in cybercrime against children from 842 cases of cybercrimes against children in 2020 to 1,238 in 2024.[3] This data is just the tip of the iceberg, covers the digital abuses that is covered in the law enforcement.
Yes, it's true that today digital lives are fully woven into the very fabric of growing up. Childhood has, in fact, fundamentally shifted. But as technology evolves at breakneck speed, a quiet, pervasive wave of cyber risk is lapping at the doors of Indian households, one that threatens not just data, but the psychological and cognitive well-being of our children.
In a joint awareness initiative, I have partnered with CRY’s cyber safety campaign ‘Ting Tong, take a pause before you act online.’ Because I believe that the digital threat to our children is no longer a futuristic dystopian warning; it is happening right now, in our living rooms.
Therefore, it is a timely initiative by CRY to talk about the risks and introduce a simple habit to pause, that children and adults alike can adopt for a safer experience online.
Let’s dispense with the illusion first: you cannot simply lock technology away and hope the digital world passes your children by. Online spaces are classrooms, playgrounds, and social hubs rolled into one.
Additionally, a Supreme Court bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, in October 2026, held that the right to access and use of internet is a fundamental right under Article 21 and 19 (1) of the Constitution, and that the children irrespective of their age, share this right. The Court declined to endorse blanket age gating, observing that they can push children towards unregulated platforms. In the Court’s words, “the safety of our children and their freedom are not at odds with each other. Our children are entitled to both.”[4]
However, the real question isn't whether children should touch technology, but whether we truly understand the shadows of the digital playgrounds they inhabit.
Take online gaming, for instance. To a parent, it looks like harmless entertainment, a child sitting quietly with a headset, laughing with friends. But behind the avatars lie open channels and global chatrooms where bad actors masquerade as peers. In these unmonitored digital alleys, strangers easily bypass parental peace of mind. Combine this with children casually plugging a parent's credit card details into gaming apps for digital currency or handing over personal information without a second thought, and the illusion of a safe home environment shatters. The threat doesn't kick down your front door; it slips in through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection and an unsupervised chat box.
The issue here is not simply whether a platform is secure. It is how trust develops inside it. In gaming communities, repeated interaction can create a powerful sense of familiarity without establishing who a person actually is. An apparently harmless exchange can gradually progress to private conversations, requests for photographs, location details or payments. Children need to recognise that trust should be earned and verified, not inferred from a friendly avatar or a shared interest. Equally, information disclosed in isolation may appear insignificant, but combined with other details it can reveal far more than intended. These are the moments when taking time to trust and sharing with care become meaningful safeguards, rather than abstract advice.
These risks are not hypothetical. According to the Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, estimated 45 crore people are negatively affected by online money games and faced a loss of more than Rs. 20,000 crore because of it.[5] The Economic Survey Report 2026 flagged adolescents as especially vulnerable to gaming disorder, which it associates with sleep disruption, aggression, social withdrawal and depression, and linked online gambling to financial stress, anxiety and suicidal ideation.[6] To address this challenges, the Union Government introduced the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026 which required age verification, time restrictions and parental control, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 require verifiable parental consent before platforms process the personal data of anyone under 18 years of age.
Long before children understand online safety, many are handed digital devices as modern pacifiers, quieting a toddler with a screen long before their cognitive foundations are built.
I’ve witnessed this many times myself. Think about it, it's one thing to allow your children to be in the room while you watch some TV yourself, but what are YOU watching? Playing nursery rhymes on the television to distract them is one thing, but distracting them enough just to feed them, are you building a habit or saving yourself the 1-hour lunch time?
Exposing children to technology before they are emotionally and mentally ready is like handing a high-performance sports car to someone who hasn't yet learned to ride a bicycle. It bypasses the natural developmental stages where children learn boredom, patience, and interpersonal resilience.
Mindfulness is the missing link here. We must be fiercely protective of how and when we expose our children to screens. Moderation isn't just about limiting hours; it’s about recognizing that premature exposure short-circuits a child's ability to self-regulate.
There is another dimension to this that we rarely discuss: a child’s ability to recognise the point at which a digital interaction deserves a second thought. Platforms are designed to remove friction, to make the next video, message or click almost effortless. Safety sometimes requires us to put that friction back deliberately. As parents, we can model it by explaining why we question a request, check a setting or decide not to share something. The objective is not constant surveillance. It is to help children develop judgment before they are expected to exercise it independently.
Now, a new wave is crashing ashore: Generative AI in learning.
While artificial intelligence promises personalized education, it introduces a hidden cognitive tax. AI systems hallucinate, present fiction as fact, and most dangerously, offer instant answers that rob children of the struggle required to truly learn. When an algorithm does the heavy lifting of thinking, organizing, and synthesizing, it actively hinders a child's ability to retain knowledge and think critically.
The Solution for Parents and Schools: We cannot ban AI, nor should we. But we must change how our children interact with it.
Schools and parents must stop treating AI output as gospel. Instead, we must teach children to interrogate the machine. Encourage them to critically analyse AI-driven work, spot its flaws, debate its conclusions, and push back against it. Education must foster healthy friction, teaching children that the struggle of figuring things out is where true intelligence is forged.
Protecting children in the digital age requires a shift in how we approach governance at home and in our schools. Just as we taught past generations about physical safety on busy streets, we must now teach digital discernment, boundary-setting, and skepticism.
One safeguard deserves particular emphasis: children must know that uncertainty or discomfort is a reason to seek help early, not a reason to stay silent. Whether the issue is an escalating private chat, a threat to share personal content or a suspicious demand for money, the response of the first adult they approach matters enormously. If disclosure is met with panic, blame or an immediate threat to confiscate the device, a child may be less likely to speak up the next time. When in doubt, reaching out should feel possible because trusted adults have made it safe to do so. Digital communication can strip away tone and context, while screenshots and reposts give an impulsive remark a life well beyond its original audience. Being kind online, in that sense, is not merely about politeness; it is about understanding the real-world consequences of actions that can feel fleeting on a screen.
As we navigate this wave of change, remember this: technology is a powerful tool, but the moral compass, the critical eye, and the human conscience must remain ours. Let us build digital environments where our children are not just consumers of convenience but resilient, critical thinkers prepared for the world of tomorrow.
This is the reason I have chosen to add my voice to CRY’s Ting Tong initiative. What I value is its focus on behaviours that can be practised before there is an incident, not simply advice offered in its aftermath. The pause it advocates is not hesitation for its own sake. It is a moment to verify, consider consequences and make a more informed decision. If we can make that instinct part of how children, parents and schools engage with technology, we can move from a reactive conversation about online harm to a more proactive culture of digital safety.
Also read: https://www.cry.org/online-safety-for-children/
[1] PIB (June 2020) https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1629603®=48&lang=2
[2] Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (May, 2025), ‘Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom’ : https://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/CMST_report_m.pdf
[3] NCRB. (2024). Crime in India 2024. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs
[4] The Hindu (October,2026), ‘Children have fundamental right to access and use internet’: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/children-have-a-fundamental-right-to-access-and-use-internet-supreme-court/article71595615.ece
[5] PIB (Aug,2025), ‘Promotion and Regulation on Online Gaming Bill’: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=155075&ModuleId=3®=48&lang=2
[6] Indian Express (Jan, 2026), ‘Economic Survey red flags digital addiction as hurting teen mental health’, https://indianexpress.com/article/health-wellness/economic-survey-red-flags-digital-addiction-mental-health-what-it-recommends-fix-10501455/
Every child has the right to education, healthcare, safety and a childhood free from exploitation. India has laws and policies designed to protect th....
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