CHENNAI: The message the three sisters left behind was not long. “Korea is our life. Korea is everything to us.” Within hours, Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) were dead, having jumped from their ninth-floor apartment in Ghaziabad earlier this year. Police said the girls had become intensely immersed in Korean digital content and a task-based online game.
The case jolted the country, not because teenagers follow global culture, but because it revealed how algorithm-driven ecosystems can overwhelm adolescent vulnerability.
India’s youth are spending unprecedented hours online. A 2025 LocalCircles survey found that 49% of urban parents reported children aged 9-17 spend more than three hours daily on social media, streaming platforms and online games, while 22% reported usage exceeding six hours a day.
Dr Vasanth, senior consultant psychiatrist in Chennai, sees the clinical consequences. “A teenage girl from a middle-class family insisted her parents take her abroad for a K-pop concert and said she would study only if they agreed. The financial burden was significant. When desire overrides reality testing despite consequences, we assess it as behavioural addiction,” he told this newspaper.
The Korean wave, or Hallyu, accelerated during the COVID lockdowns, when isolation drove millions toward streaming platforms. Lara (20) said she began watching Korean dramas during that period. “Now I understand parts of the language. Some words feel similar to Tamil,” she said.
Another viewer admitted to watching entire 16-episode series in a single sitting. “It helped me cope with stress. I began admiring their discipline and work culture,” she said.
For Vanuja, a Chennai native who later moved to South Korea for higher studies, the cultural immersion reshaped aspirations. “Many boys admire Korean facial features, even comparing them to people from the northeast. Many girls want a partner like Korean actors. It gradually influences how we see relationships,” she said.
Even Koreans notice the intensity. Ha Sujin, who studied in Chennai before returning home, said, “In Korea, we follow celebrities and watch dramas. But sometimes the enthusiasm in India feels stronger.”
The vulnerability is magnified by broader mental health trends. The National Crime Records Bureau recorded over 1.71 lakh suicides in 2023, with adolescents forming a significant proportion. While suicide is multifactorial, clinicians say excessive screen exposure often intersects with academic pressure, sleep deprivation and social isolation.
The issue is not fandom. It is compulsion reinforced by design. A teenage girl from a middle-class family insisted her parents take her abroad for a K-pop concert and said she would study only if they agreed. The financial burden was significant. When desire overrides reality testing despite consequences, we assess it as behavioural addiction
Dr Vasanth, city-based senior consultant psychiatrist
Clinical research signals deeper risk. A 2025 cross-sectional study in Ahmedabad found 15.8% of high school students met criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), with associations to insomnia, anxiety and stress. A meta-analysis in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine reported that 21.5% of Indian adolescents show moderate problematic internet use, and 2.6% severe dependence. Among young adults, smartphone addiction prevalence in some Indian cohorts is estimated at around 40%.
In 2019, World Health Organization classified Gaming Disorder under ICD-11, defining it by impaired control, prioritisation of gaming over daily activities and persistence despite harm. Indian psychiatrists say the same behavioural architecture now applies to binge streaming and hyper-fandom cultures.
Excessive engagement with digital devices, whether gaming, binge streaming, or fandom-driven content, affects a brain that is still developing. In adolescents, the limbic system, which governs reward-seeking and emotional intensity, matures earlier than the prefrontal cortex, which regulates judgement and impulse control.
“Algorithm-driven platforms repeatedly stimulate dopamine pathways through rapid, variable rewards, increasing reward sensitivity while weakening the ability to delay gratification. Over time, this can impair attention span, motivation and self-regulation,” said Dr Kurinji GR, Consultant – Psychiatry, Kauvery Hospital. “Healthy fandom is adaptive, young people are able to balance their interests with sleep, academics and relationships. It becomes pathological when engagement turns compulsive, when individuals cannot control their consumption, become irritable when access is restricted, and continue despite academic or social consequences. The defining marker is not the number of hours spent, but the loss of control and the presence of harm.”
Streaming services and gaming platforms optimise for ‘time-on-platform’, a metric tied directly to advertising revenue and subscription retention
This is not accidental design. Streaming services and gaming platforms optimise for ‘time-on-platform’, a metric tied directly to advertising revenue and subscription retention. Infinite scroll, autoplay sequences and notification triggers are engineered to reduce friction between episodes and extend engagement.
Globally, some governments have acted. South Korea has experimented with youth gaming restrictions and curfews. China has imposed strict gaming time limits for minors. The European Union is tightening digital services regulations, requiring greater transparency from platforms about algorithmic design.
India, however, lacks a comprehensive national framework addressing adolescent screen exposure. The Economic Survey 2026 flagged digital addiction as a risk to youth productivity and mental health. India’s Chief Economic Adviser recently suggested exploring age-based limits on social media access. But beyond advisory statements, enforceable safeguards remain limited.
Public health experts stress that this is not a cultural debate. Korean cinema and music have global artistic merit. The concern is systemic: commercial digital architectures intersecting with developing brains.
“The issue is not fandom. It is compulsion reinforced by design. Parents must look for warning signs, irritability when devices are removed, academic decline, sleep disruption and withdrawal from real-world relationships. Dialogue and structured limits are critical,” Dr Vasanth noted.