PGI tackles toxic teen digital habits in Chandigarh region.

Chandigarh: Excessive screen time is normalising alcohol use and driving risky sexual behaviour among teenagers. These are the findings of a medical study into adolescent digital habits.

Researchers from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) reached 85 students at Shri Jainendra Gurukul Senior Secondary School in Panchkula, delivering a targeted behavioural intervention that will help counter the psychological toll of unregulated social media use.

Dr Tanvi Kiran, an associate professor of community medicine, led the session as part of a multi-city randomised controlled trial that the Indian Council of Medical Research has funded. The interactive programme bypassed standard lectures, deploying dynamic presentations to address three primary digital threats: family alienation, alcohol normalisation, and cyber-intimacy risks.

Finding how screen addiction erodes emotional bonding within homes, the researchers urged families to establish “screen-free zones” to restore direct communication. Highlighting how influencer culture and surrogate advertising use the “fear of missing out” to normalise underage drinking, threatening early brain development, analysts advised using content filters and shifting child’s focus towards offline sport.

Digital misinformation and sexualised online trends increasingly expose adolescents to predatory behaviours. The team sensitised students to verify sources and enforce strict personal boundaries online. The initiative aims to build long-term digital responsibility among youth, providing a scalable framework to combat online peer pressure and its documented psychological harms.