Pune: 3 friends turn ‘Digi detoxifiers’ to help teens come out of social media addiction

Digidetox is a platform that directly reaches out to students and educates them on the dangers of excessive internet use. The website has self-assessment tools where the participant can answer a few questions on his/her current usage of social media or gaming or internet and get immediate feedback.

Digidetox news, social media news, indian express

Digidetox, a platform to directly reach out to students and educate them on the dangers of social media addiction. ( Photo source: Digidetox)

Are you one of those parents who are losing sleep over your child’s excessive internet use? Then Digidetox is here to help your child out of the problem. Concerned about the rising internet addiction among teenagers, three friends – Pune-based Rohan Kalluraya and Aneesh Pant and Kolkata-based Arushi Sanghi – came together to launch Digidetox, a platform to directly reach out to students and educate them on the dangers of social media addiction.

“We would conduct training programmes in schools and raise awareness about the ill effects of gaming, cell phone apps and social media addiction,” said Aneesh Pant, a student at DriveChange Learning and Resource Centre.

Disturbed by selfie-related accidents, dangerous stunts to create Instagram likes, rising number of school dropouts due to internet addictions, the trio who are undergraduates, under the guidance of noted Pune-based psychiatrist Dr Bhooshan Shukla, framed a questionnaire to survey more than 1,200 students across various schools in Pune, Kolkata, Guwahati and Faizabad and developed self-assessment tools that were uploaded on their website digidetox.org.

“Internet addiction peaked to greater heights during Covid-19 pandemic. It took a heavy toll on our friends. We were shocked by the impact and hence decided to develop and upload self-assessment tools on our website where the participant can answer a few questions on his/her current usage of social media or gaming or the internet and get immediate feedback on the level of addiction,” said Rohan who has a keen interest in Applied Mathematics.

Based on the feedback, a counsellor at school, parent or guardian can seek professional help.

Rohan recalled that he had observed some of his close friends at school getting obsessed with internet gaming in 2019. He and Aneesh reached out to Dr Shukla and Dr Dyanraj Choudhary, a psychiatrist and de-addiction expert, who came to their school and gave an awareness talk about the ill effects of smartphone addiction. It helped the students realise the problem and seek help, Rohan said.

A year later, Arushi from Kolkata joined Digidetox and the youngsters decided to scale up their initiative by developing power-point slides, flyers, and posters that could be shared at presentations across various schools. The initial survey conducted between October 2021 and April 2022 saw the participation of 1,221 teenagers.

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Aneesh pointed out that their survey results showed that teenagers who have higher internet usage were more likely to be in denial of their issues. Generally, those who had a higher score had a tendency to say that they did not neglect their responsibilities. However, researchers have claimed that higher internet use can lead to lower work ethics, he said.

The findings have been sent to a research journal for publication. As part of scaling up the initiative, the founders have encouraged volunteers to join and become ‘Digidetoxifiers’ with an aim to conduct both online and offline programmes in schools across India to fight the menace of digital addiction.

Dr Shukla told The Indian Express that the three friends were quite worried about how people get easily hooked onto the internet at a young age. “Guided by their friends’ experiences, they wanted to understand how common the problem was and approached me. A questionnaire was devised based on the CAGE questionnaire that is clinically used to screen persons for problematic drinking on an OPD basis.”

The scientifically-conducted survey results showed that those who used the internet excessively did not feel guilty about it.

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“As a doctor for me this was an important observation as we normally assume that people do feel guilty about what they are doing especially if it is wrong in other people’s eyes. So we see high internet use with low guilt, which is a serious clinical implication, possibly could change our approach while dealing with such people,” Dr Shukla said.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a Senior Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With a career spanning three decades, she is one of the most respected voices in Indian journalism regarding healthcare, science and environment and research developments. She also takes a keen interest in covering women's issues . Professional Background Education: A gold medalist in Communication and Journalism from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Master’s degree in Literature. Author: She authored the biography At The Wheel Of Research, which chronicles the life and work of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist at the WHO. Key Focus: She combines scientific accuracy with storytelling, translating complex medical research into compelling public and human-interest narratives. Awards and Recognition Anuradha has won several awards including the Press Council of India's national award for excellence in journalism under the gender based reporting category in 2019 and the Laadli Media award (gender sensitivity -2024). A recipient of the Lokmat journalism award (gender category-2022), she was also shortlisted for the RedInk awards for excellence in journalism-2021. Her debut book At The Wheel Of Research, an exclusive biography of Dr Soumya Swaminathan the inaugural chief scientist of World Health Organisation was also nominated in the Popular Choice Category of JK Paper AUTHER awards. She has also secured competitive fellowships including the Laadli Media Fellowship (2022), the Survivors Against TB – New Research in TB Media Fellowship (2023) and is part of the prestigious 2025 India Cohort of the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey.” Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) 1. Cancer & Specialized Medical Care "Tata Memorial finds way to kill drug-resistant cancer cells" (Nov 26, 2025): Reporting on a breakthrough for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. Discipline, diet and purpose; How a 97-year-old professor defies ageing'' (Nov 15, 2025) Report about Prof Gururaj Mutalik, the first Head of Department at Pune's B J Government Medical College who at 97 credits his longevity to healthy habits and a strong sense of purpose. 2. Environmental Health (The "Breathless Pune" Series) Long-term exposure even to 'moderate' air leads to chronic heart, lung, kidney issues" (Nov 26, 2025): Part of an investigative series highlighting that even "safe" pollution levels are damaging to vital organs. "For every 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 level, there was 6-8% jump in medicine sales" (Nov 23, 2025): Using commercial data to prove the direct link between air quality and respiratory illnesses in Pune. 3. Lifestyle & Wellness News "They didn't let cancer, diabetes and heart disease stop them from travelling" (Dec 22, 2025): A collaborative piece featuring survivors who share practical tips for traveling with chronic conditions. At 17, his BP shot up to 200/120 mmHG; Lancet study flags why child and teen hypertension doubled between 2000 and 2020'' (Nov 12,2025)--A report that focusses on 17-year-old-boy's hypertensive crisis and reflects the rising global trend of high blood pressure among children and adolescents. 4. Scientific Recognition & Infrastructure For promoting sci-comm, gender diversity: IUCAA woman prof highlighted in Nature" (Nov 25, 2025): Covering the global recognition of Indian women scientists in gender studies and physics. Pune researchers find a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way from early universe'' (December 3, 2025)- A report on how Indian researchers discovered a massive galaxy that existed when the universe was just 1.5 billion years old , one of the earliest to have been observed so far. Signature Beat: Health, Science & Women in Leadership Anuradha is known for her COVID-19 reportage, where she was one of the first journalists to provide detailed insights into the Covishield and Covaxin trials. She has a dedicated interest in gender diversity in health and science, often profiling women researchers who are breaking the "leaky pipeline" in STEM fields. Her writing style is scrupulous, often featuring interviews with top-tier scientists and health experts from various institutions. ... Read More

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