When screens quietly rewire young minds

Parents grant phones so children aren't excluded or bullied for not having one, and often before they are emotionally mature enough to handle the content . — Filepic

In recent months, Malaysia has been shaken by a series of disturbing incidents in schools.

A stabbing incident between students, sexual assaults and violent bullying were recorded and circulated on social media.

These are not isolated episodes but signs of deeper issues brewing beneath the surface of youth culture, technology and mental health.

In response, the government is reportedly considering setting age limits for handphone or social media use among teenagers. This consideration also includes exploring a possible ban on smartphones for those under 16.

Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil stated that the government will also push for social media platforms to implement mandatory eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) verification for accounts using official documents like MyKad or passports.

While this may seem like a sensible move, the question remains – is legislation alone enough to tackle the complex intersection between digital influence and youth mental health?

The new digital childhood

Children today are growing up in a vastly different world.

From as early as primary school, many already possess smartphones, often before they are emotionally mature enough to handle the content and connections those devices bring.

Social media platforms, gaming apps and instant messaging expose them to an endless stream of stimulation, peer comparison and at times, toxic content.

Unlike the traditional playground, the digital playground never closes.

The consequences are reduced sleep, increased anxiety, shortened attention span and a distorted sense of identity.

Research has shown that excessive screen time and unfiltered exposure to social media can significantly impact emotional regulation, self-esteem and even brain development during adolescence – a period when identity, empathy and self-control are still forming.

In Malaysia, the 2023 National Health and Morbidity Survey highlighted that nearly one in three teenagers experiences symptoms of depression or anxiety.

While this cannot be solely attributed to digital media, constant connectivity and emotional dependence on online validation undeniably play a role.

From online fantasy to real life aggression

Violence and risky behaviour among teens cannot be viewed in isolation from their digital environments.

Global phenomena such as the Blue Whale Challenge, a dangerous online “game” that allegedly encouraged self-harm and the popular Netflix series Squid Game, with its disturbing themes of survival and brutality, have made their mark in Malaysia, too.

Even if most youth do not imitate these acts directly, constant exposure to graphic or dehumanising content desensitises them.

When violent games or social media “challenges” become normalised, empathy and moral inhibition begin to erode.

In school settings where emotional support is limited, such influences can find expression in dangerous and tragic ways.

However, to attribute the recent violent incidents in Malaysian schools solely to digital exposure would be simplistic.

These acts are also symptoms of emotional distress, family conflict, lack of supervision and weakened social connectedness – problems that the digital age has, unfortunately, magnified.

Sometimes parents need to help their children monitor and clean up their social media feed. — Dreamstime/TNS

Are teachers to blame?

Whenever tragedy strikes in a school, public debate often turns to the role of teachers and the education system.

Calls for “better discipline” or “stricter supervision” arise quickly.

However, such expectations overlook the reality that teachers can only do so much.

In today’s world, educators are not just instructors – they are expected to be counsellors, mediators, social workers and sometimes even surrogate parents!

Yet, they operate within limited resources, large class sizes and competing academic pressures.

To hold teachers solely accountable for a student’s digital behaviour or psychological distress is unfair and unrealistic.

The responsibility must be shared between schools, families and society.

While schools can foster awareness and provide guidance, parents are the primary gatekeepers of their children’s online exposure.

Many parents, however, admit feeling helpless and unsure how to set boundaries or are unaware of what their children encounter online.

Smartphone use in school

One irony in the debate about restricting smartphone use among teenagers is that schools themselves have institutionalised its use.

Many Malaysian schools have WhatsApp groups for communication between teachers and parents, for coordinating extracurricular activities, and even for classroom management.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, smartphones became the lifeline for remote learning, and their role persisted long after classrooms reopened.

The problem now is not merely whether smartphones should be used, but how they can be used responsibly.

The idea of banning or limiting devices must therefore be accompanied by realistic solutions, acknowledging that digital communication is already embedded in the education system.

Possible strategies include setting clear school policies on non-academic phone use during class hours.

Developing official, moderated school apps or learning platforms is preferable to taking the easy way out by depending on social messaging groups.

Both parents and students must be educated on digital etiquette, privacy and online emotional safety.

Parental involvement should move beyond setting screen time limits.

It must include open communication about what children watch, who they follow and how they feel after spending time online.

Parents themselves should demonstrate balanced smartphone use in modelling healthy digital behaviour.

It is the parents’ responsibility to equip their children with the ability to navigate the online world critically, ethically and safely.

The mental health dimension

Digital exposure interacts closely with emotional vulnerability.

Teenagers with low self-esteem, family conflict, or prior trauma may be more susceptible to the negative effects of online comparison, cyberbullying or manipulative content.

Social media platforms, powered by algorithms that reward outrage and emotional intensity, often amplify the very emotions that harm young users, such as envy, insecurity, anger and loneliness.

Over time, these can evolve into anxiety disorders, depression or self-harming tendencies.

From a mental health and developmental standpoint, a gruesome act by a 14-year-old is never the result of a single factor. It represents the intersection of psychological vulnerability, social environment, developmental immaturity and emotional dysregulation.

While not all such cases involve psychiatric disorders, some individuals may have underlying or undiagnosed mental health problems, such as conduct disorder or emerging antisocial traits, which are marked by aggression, disregard for others and poor remorse.

Even teenagers can develop depression with severe anger or irritability.

It is not unusual for young people to struggle with psychotic symptoms, including delusional beliefs about the victim or distorted reality perception.

These conditions can distort thinking, blunt empathy and lower the threshold for violent behaviour.

In extremely violent acts such as repeated stabbing, perpetrators sometimes enter a dissociative or rage state, where consciousness narrows and normal moral or emotional brakes collapse.

Afterwards, many describe being unable to recall their actions or feeling detached from reality.

Such dissociative episodes are typically triggered by overwhelming emotional arousal, trauma flashbacks or underlying psychiatric disturbance.

A balanced policy approach

Any national policy addressing digital use must be integrated with mental health promotion.

This means ensuring access to school counsellors, integrating emotional literacy into the curriculum and strengthening community-based support systems.

If digital addiction is treated purely as a disciplinary issue, without addressing its psychological roots, the cycle will continue.

Setting an age limit for social media or smartphone use may provide symbolic reassurance, but it is not a standalone solution.

Enforcement is difficult and digital exposure often begins at home or through peers.

More important is the creation of a multi-tiered approach combining policy, education and family engagement.

A national framework should include several important components, such as digital literacy education from primary school and public awareness campaigns targeting parents.

Tech companies must be monitored and reminded of their social responsibility to restrict harmful content and promote safe browsing.

Teachers, too, need to be trained on identifying online-related stress and early signs of mental distress.

The digital world is here to stay.

Rather than framing it as an enemy, Malaysia needs to focus on how to coexist with it in a healthy way.

For young people, this means cultivating self-awareness, empathy and critical thinking. For adults, it means creating environments at home, in schools and online that support those values.

The recent violent episodes in Malaysian schools should serve as a wake-up call. They are not simply the result of digital exposure, but of a broader erosion of emotional connection and supervision in young people’s lives.

Addressing this requires collective responsibility, not blame.

As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.

In the digital age, it takes an entire connected nation to protect one.

Datuk Dr Andrew Mohanraj is a consultant psychiatrist and the Malaysian Mental Health Association (MMHA) president. For more information, email [e-mail]. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only, and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

The next column will be written by Che Puan Muda Zaheeda Mohamad Ariff, the Raja Puan Muda of Kedah, a trained lawyer, mental health advocate and royal patron of MMHA. She will alternate writing the column with Datuk Dr Andrew Mohanraj.