Impact of Social Media on Parenting Style and Child Behavior in India: A Systematic Scoping Review

Excessive screen time and the growing influence of digital technologies have raised concerns about their impact on children's physical health, academic performance, and social behaviour. Parenting styles and parent-child relationships further modulate these outcomes. This scoping review examines the impact of excessive digital screen time and social media addiction on parenting styles, the parent-child relationship and child behaviour. This scoping review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines, including a quality appraisal checklist for observational studies. We utilized the Arksey and O’Malley framework to report the methodology and results, and applied the PAGER framework to enhance the quality of the findings. Systematic searches were conducted across national and international databases. Original studies conducted in India and published in English between January 2012 and August 2024 were included in the review. Qualitative synthesis was adopted to describe outcomes. A total of 25 studies were included, involving 28,366 participants from urban and rural India. Excessive digital screen time and social media addiction influence parenting styles, leading to shifts in parent-child relationships. Specifically, authoritarian parenting behaviours were observed more frequently. Additionally, excessive screen exposure was associated with adverse physical health outcomes, including eye strain, backache, headaches, and obesity, along with mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Excessive social media use adversely affects children's mental health and academic performance, while parenting styles significantly influence these outcomes. Promoting balanced media use and nurturing parent-child relationships can mitigate these impacts and foster positive development.