Reading time : 3 minutes
‘The online pressure to look perfect, pretty and attractive can lead to insecurity, bad faith, emotional burn-out’
Aayushi Rana is a postgraduate in History from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and a Senior Researcher at Digitial Forensics Research Analytics Centre (DFRAC), a Delhi-based fact-checking organization. She is also a Digital Forensics trainer, having conducted training sessions for journalists from across the world, and for school students in Delhi, on misinformation, fake news, digital safety and skilled verification techniques. A former English and Social Sciences teacher at a prestigious private school in Delhi, her work currently focuses on media literacy and socio-political research. In conversation with Amit Sengupta
Why is Adolescence, the popular Netflix series, being talked about in India, especially in urban spaces, though it’s set in the U.K.? What are the similarities?
Even though Adolescence is set in a UK school, the emotions it captures—feeling lost, pressured, judged, or unseen—are so familiar that they have struck a chord here in India too, especially in cities. Whether it’s a teenager in London or in Delhi, the desire to fit in, the anxiety of being left out of a group chat, or the pressure to look perfect online feels eerily similar. The world might look different on the outside, but the struggles of growing up in the age of social media are more or less universal. Young people are navigating a world where their online identity can often feel more important than who they are in real life, and that’s something that crosses borders.
How is the digital society of modernity reshaping vulnerable minds of school kids and youngsters in India? What are the negative influences?
We are living in a time where screens are no longer just tools—they are an extension of our daily lives. For kids and teenagers, that’s especially true. They wake up with notifications and go to bed scrolling through social media. This constant exposure is reshaping how they think and feel. It’s not just about being online—it’s about always being seen. And that can be exhausting.
The pressure to present a perfect, pretty and attractive version of themselves can lead to insecurity, loneliness, and even emotional burn-out. It also makes them more vulnerable to harmful trends, cyber-bullying, and misinformation. There are all kinds of frauds in the virtual world who can get on their wavelength and exploit them. Besides, there are professional predators looking for vulnerable prey. When you are still figuring out who you are, it’s easy to get caught up in toxic cycles without even realizing it.
How is it impacting girls, for instance?
Girls, in many ways, carry a heavier emotional burden in the digital world. They are often judged more harshly, whether it’s about how they look, what they wear, or how they behave online. A lot of them are constantly comparing themselves to filtered images and celebrity standards, which can seriously damage their self-confidence. I have spoken to girls who avoid posting anything at all because they’re scared of being trolled or shamed. This kind of pressure doesn’t just stay online—it creeps into their everyday life, making them doubt their worth or stay silent when they should be heard.
It’s heartbreaking, and it’s something we need to talk about more openly.
Is it still better in India with its kinships, strong family ties, etc.?
There’s definitely a strength in India’s family structure. When it works well, it gives kids a real sense of belonging and safety. Having grandparents around or close family connections can mean there are more people to notice when something feels off, or to simply listen when a teenager needs to vent. But that’s not always the case, especially in urban nuclear families where parents are busy and kids are often left to figure things out on their own. Sometimes, the emotional distance between generations makes it hard for teenagers to open up—especially when the adults don’t really understand the digital world their kids are growing up in.
What is the solution? Is banning mobiles a solution?
Banning mobiles might sound like a quick fix, in fact, it can backfire. It often just pushes kids to hide things or feel like they’re being punished instead of supported. What really helps is having open, honest conversations—without judgment. When young people feel safe to talk about what’s going on in their online lives, they are far more likely to come to you when something goes wrong. We also need to help them build digital awareness—teaching them how to think critically about what they see online and how to protect their emotional health.
And, yes, setting some healthy boundaries together, like screen-free dinners, or time to unwind without devices, can really help.
So how to go about it in everyday lives, especially when elders don’t want to tell them, do this, do that?
At the end of the day, it’s about building trust, not control. Teens need to know we are on their side. Adolescence is not just a phase—it’s a turbulent storm of ‘being and becoming’. In a world of glowing screens and suppressed angst, our children are growing up in shadows we often fail to see. They don’t need judgments from us—they need a trusted presence. Friendship. Understanding.
They need our silence so that we can listen to them; our questions have to be kind and intelligent, and our love should be unwavering.
If we can meet them where they are, with open hearts and steady hands, maybe—just maybe—we can help them find their way through the chaos and noise, the dangers and traps, towards a world where they feel safe and happy to be fully, unapologetically, themselves; what they really are — innocent, pure, eclectic hearts and minds, full of wonder, dreams and aspirations.