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In the backdrop of the Netflix series, the two experts discussed how being a “good parent” was no more enough in the current times that saw the existence of multiple factors affecting children’s mental health.
Experts Dr Amit Sen and Harpreet Singh Grover discuss parenting in the digital age at Rising Bharat Summit 2025.
“I will not let my child have access to social media before the age of 16″ – was one of the lessons that parenting expert Harpreet Singh Grover learnt from the much talked about Netflix series ‘Adolescence’. In a panel discussion – Adolescence Unfiltered: Parenting In The Digital Age at CNN-News18’s Rising Bharat Summit 2025 – Grover, along with Senior Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr Amit Sen discussed the challenges of being a parent in times that have been taken over by the social media.
In the backdrop of the Netflix series, the two experts discussed how being a “good parent” was no more enough in the current times that saw the existence of multiple factors affecting children’s mental health. While Dr Sen did put the blame on parents for giving early smartphone access to their kids, Grover added that with both parents working in normal families, there were many other factors contributing to this.
Dr Sen said that apart from the digital exposure and parents’ handing out smartphones to small kids, it was also the overall atmosphere that was leading to increased cases of hypertension, attention deficit and other such issues in kids. Taking note from the Netflix show Adolescence, he pointed out how schools, too, were no more safe spaces for kids with bullying, teasing, violence, abuse happening openly. He also said peer pressure was another serious concern with most kids carrying smartphones.
Grover added that most parents would use “safety of the kid” as an excuse for giving them smartphones. “They are so bothered about the physical safety that they have ignored the mental safety of their kids,” he said, adding that parents need to look at other gadgets to ensure safety like smartwatches or replace the smartphones with feature phones.
When asked if parents also needed to cut down on their screen time for the kids, Grover said, “No parent should be guilty about using smartphones. If the kids argue they can use it because the parents are using it, parents must draw the line saying ‘your height is still growing, ours is not. our brains have developed, yours have not’.”
When asked how more women may walk out of the workforce with the growing challenges of parents, Dr Sen said parenting was the responsibility of both the parents, not jus the mothers. “It is an equal duty of both the parents to find resources to give to their child. You have to prioritise parenting as the top things you do. It makes you grow as a person.”
Concluding the discussion, Grover read out a list of lessons he learnt from the Netflix show – “I will not let my child have social media below the age of 16. I will replace my child’s smartphone with a feature phone and a smartwatch and a laptop. I will not be bullied by my own kid when they say ‘everyone has it’. I will not think to myself ‘oh, I’m giving it for studying’. If my child feels left out of groups because he doesn’t have a smartphone, I will explain to my child why that is okay. If my child is quiet, I will not think of that as okay. I will not think ‘kids nowadays are like that only’. I will find time for my child, time to connect, time to chat. I will not work with my imaginary child. I don’t want a child who is good at what I want them to be good at. I will see what my child enjoys doing. I will see my real child not my imaginary child. I am responsible for my child, I love my child.”
