Limitations on social media addiction

There have been plenty of studies on the ill effects of social media on mental and physical health. Excessive use of smart devices has been linked to-

Depression
Social anxiety and awkwardness
Bouts of unexplained anger and calmness,Mood swings
Physical problems like obesity, postural deformities etc.
The key victims and consumers of this new age phenomenon of excessive digitisation have been the youth of our country. Our country's youth has found in this dark web of cyber relationships an unnecessary object of admiration and addiction.. What started out as harmless fun and as a relaxation tool has transformed itself into a time killing monster.

The rate of adoption of popular social media platforms like Facebook,Instagram,Snapchat,Whatsapp,Tiktok,Twitter etc. has been mind boggling.It may be conceded that ease of access to information through these platforms has helped the people in general. But the other side of the coin rears its ugly head as soon as the amount of optimal time required to be spent on social media platforms is exceeded. Though the amount of quality time required to be spent on these platforms can't be defined, actual time expended on these platforms has exceeded beyond tolerable limits due to the following factors-

Defects in End user psyche-Most people start their day checking their social media notifications and keep browsing them throughout the day, leaving no time for other meaningful activities/tasks/responsibilities. Even school going children stay glued to their mobiles all day in search of gratification which they couldn't find in their books,teachers and immediate surroundings.Certain fatal accidents have also occured on this account.This detoriates the idea of a social setup whereby healthy relations between people in a community are promoted by way of discussion and thought with a dash of personal touch as opposed to the reckless flow of information,creation and destruction of relationships and emotional drainage evident in today's cyberworld.The mind remains disturbed if kept away from the swirl of social media even for a short period. And when it returns to it due to fear of missing out on ''what's on'', its uniqueness is lost in the sea of social media attractions.
Exploitation by social media companies- Social media firms employ sneeky tools to exploit human psychology to coax users to to extend their stay on their platforms longer than they normally wood. Things like infinite scrolling,auto play and auto load of content, engagement rewards,valueless games,links to third party websites etc. keep the users busy meaninglessly wasting their precious time.The time spent on gathering and pursuing of this overload of cyber information has reduced the time left for more important but less significant activities as per India's youth like reading physical books, physical excercises,interacting with one's loved ones in person and experiencing the boundless beauty of mother nature again through the physical self.
The emotional and mental blockage created by undue usage of social media needs to be reversed at both the individual and national/international level on a war footing as the same is a cause for daily bickerings/cyber bullying/Privacy intrusions and other problems discussed above.There is a strict need to look down on social media and its related paraphernalia as a useful sidekick of secondary importance rather than look up to it for some sort of enlightenment emanating from some other person's profile/posts/pictures.

I believe the parents would agree to the observations made.The youngsters would not agree citing freedom of choice,expression and the comforts of social media interaction.But may they be informed that too much of choice and comfort is always a dangerous thing.

I request the GoI to set up a high level committee to examine the various issues arising out of the growth of social media apps ,study the various tactics employed by social media managers to trick users into extended usage without any value addition and their effects in both the personal and private spaces.Meanwhile schools, colleges and offices could sensitise about the unintended effects of over-usage of cyber platforms and bring about rules/regulations to limit their usage in their premises