Expert Speaks – ‘Impact of Over-Stimulation of Internet on the Mental Health of School Students’ – Saurabh Nanda

In this articlе,  Saurabh Nanda addrеssеs thе mental hеalth issues among high school students in India, and the impact of over-stimulation of the internet on their career choices, during the pandemic.  Studеnts exhibit rеstlеssnеss,  dropping acadеmic pеrformancе,  and othеr concеrning bеhaviors.  Many arе obsessed with unconvеntional carееrs without undеrstanding thеir own aptitudеs.  Thе author proposes thе “Spheres of Understanding” modеl to help students make bеttеr carееr choices by knowing themselves,  managing еxtеrnal information,  and mapping opportunitiеs.  Prioritising sеlf-awareness and pеrsonal growth is еssеntial for improved mental hеalth and succеss.

“I want to be a successful CEO” said this grade 10 student during a counselling session. A few questions with him clearly displayed that he hadn’t thought through his choice deeply. He didn’t know what a CEO does, how does one become a CEO, what is needed to be a successful CEO. Here is a grade 10 student who doesn’t like communicating with others apart from his family, someone who is restless, doesn’t prefer going outside to play with others his age, constantly over-thinks and admits to be stressed all the time. He is gifted to be a great dentist or a good medical researcher or an insightful radiologist but because his parents are doctors, he doesn’t want to be one.

A couple of students in grade 12 have been diagnosed with clinical depression. One has been taking counselling and the other has ‘ticks’ while speaking and is on strong anti-anxiety medication now. Both want to do something ‘big’ in life and do not believe in school education anymore. They stopped listening to their parents’ suggestions a couple of years ago.

The over-stimulation of their minds due to excessive consumption of content on YouTube/ Instagram during COVID-19, isolation from friends, and the hopelessness of the COVID pandemic has inspired a lot of our young to find solutions for their success on their own! This is usually fuelled by impatience and instant gratification.

These 2 students were also doing just fine in grade 10. They were considered ‘intelligent’ and ‘smart’ by everyone. They were rebellious and didn’t listen to their elders thinking they knew more. They were never stopped from indulging in such behaviour which pushed them to feel low and demotivated. 

Students overthink, then they put themselves under immense pressure to achieve, because of that pressure, they are unable to perform in academics and extracurricular activities, which demotivates them, so they put more pressure on themselves and this vicious cycle repeats until mental health starts breaking down.

Does this sound familiar? Have you also heard of such adolescents? These are the counselling clients we took just in the month of July 2023. We cater to 2-5 such students every month from all parts of India. This is a growing problem leading to grave mental health concerns among students. Some behaviour patterns which need to be taken seriously by parents and teachers are:

1. Restlessness
2. Dropping academic performance, not ready to do any kind of self-study
3. Disrespect towards teachers and parents
4. Openly talking about dropping out from schools
5. Over-thinking, talking to themselves, and becoming more and more silent
6. Late nights on the internet, prefer social interaction over online games or discussion forums
7. Seem pressured, burdened or stressed all the time
8. Loss of creativity
9. Not interested in their earlier hobbies such as music or sports or arts
10. Follow people who may not have a positive influence on children.    
11. Have developed behaviour patterns like misogyny, bad language, unhygienic habits and bad etiquette.
12. Small groups of 2-5 students always spending time together and discussing ‘ways to be successful’ or ‘how others don’t know’.
13. Want to change academic subject choices frequently.

Many of you who are reading this, might have their own observations and explanations of the above mentioned behaviour, but in our experience, especially since 2020, over hundreds of counselling cases, we have observed these common threads. This type of behaviour if left unchecked results in mental health issues which can get ugly leading to bad behaviour, loss of academic years, dropping academic performance and loss of social interaction with other students.

These kids are focussing a lot of their time and efforts on absorbing new ways to be successful which include:

1. Social Media Influencer
2. Content Creation on their own or by using AI tools
3. Graphic Design and Web Development
4. Digital marketing
5. Drop Shipping
6. Affiliate Marketing
7. Merchandising
8. Stock Trading
9. Crypto Trading
10. Professional Gaming and much more

Now there is nothing wrong with the above mentioned careers, in fact if you are talented enough for these specific careers and have the learning mindset, you can do wonders but most young people have not had enough life experience to understand how well suited they are to these careers.

Career Decisions are not made solely on “External Information”. According to my copyrighted career decision making model called “Spheres of Understanding”, there are 3 spheres of understanding that one needs to understand and practice before making suitable career decisions in their early career stages such as high school or university. There are:

A. Sphere 1: Outside (Managing External Information) –

One has to learn how to manage information from different categories such as Curated or Targeted Information, Opinions and Researched Information

B. Sphere 2: Inside (Knowledge of Self) –

We also call this ‘Step Zero’ as this is the most important sphere of understanding. This helps you know yourself and helps us know if the external information is useful for us or not. One needs to know their aptitudes, personality, interests and this can be done through robust psychometric assessments or detailed counselling.

C. Sphere 3: The Door (Mapping Opportunities) –

The 3rd sphere of understanding is The Door which allows you to Map Opportunities. After you have learnt about yourself and how to manage external knowledge, then we can start choosing opportunities by mapping our talents, needs and wants to the opportunities which come our way. Its components include Planning, Execution and Learning.

I have explained some of them in the TEDx talk I delivered in Japan in December 2022. You can view it here – Be Career Ready for the Future | Saurabh Nanda | TEDxAwaji

Unless students understand themselves, what their talents are and which career options will make their life happy and content, they will keep searching for ‘quick ways to get rich’ and fall trap to the information overload that the internet is going through today.

Know yourself, learn to develop your skills, think in years and endeavour to be a good human being – success will come on its own!

About the Expert Author – Saurabh Nanda 

Saurabh Nanda is a rеnownеd carееr consultant and mеntor in India,  guiding 20, 000+ studеnts and young profеssionals globally.  Hе has rеcеivеd accolades for mеntal hеalth initiativеs and is a TEDx spеakеr.  His expertise covers diverse topics,  from rеsеarch projеcts to communication skills.  He holds degrees in computеr еnginееring and clinical psychology.  His decade еxpеriеncе in education spans India,  Dеnmark,  and Japan,  bеnеfiting thousands of livеs.  He advocatеs for sustainability,  mеntal hеalth,  and еducation policy on his podcasts and as a Global Ambassador.