The Dopamine Detox

   Life beyond the feed

In today’s digital age, social media has blurred the lines between reality and illusion. While it does allow us to share about ourselves and connect with anyone in the world, it also tempts us to present only the brightest and most “perfect” fragments of our lives. This article explores how curated feeds, validation-seeking behavior, and the pressure to present a perfect life online shape our perception of ourselves and others.

 

 Negative impact on the youth.

Research shows that social media’s impact on young people is increasingly marked by anxiety, stress and diminished self-worth. Studies suggest that a large proportion of users check their social media accounts first thing in the morning, yet most of them present a persona that is strikingly different from their offline identities. The constant performance to seem ‘cool’ or ‘perfect’ creates a psychological burden, leading to emotional strain, reduced self-worth, and a growing disconnect between one’s online identity and real self. 

For the youth, social media is a critical place for social interactions, which makes them vulnerable to feelings of exclusion or FOMO.

 

The fear of missing out triggers a persistent sense of anxiety in an individual when they come in contact with others having more rewarding experiences. This can lead to -

●        Overcommitment: Individuals may agree to experiences that they are uncomfortable with simply to avoid missing out.

●        Increased risk-taking: Teens, in particular, may fall victim to peer pressure and engage in activities like binge-drinking or substance abuse.

●        Performative identity: All of the symptoms are combined with the urge to post their ‘activities’ online to form a persona of someone that may seem “cool”.

 

Chronic FOMO is linked to increased psychological pressure and depression. Even if the activities are not outright dangerous to the wellbeing of an individual, FOMO can create emotional distress and internal conflict. The link between FOMO and the act of posting activities online is a self-reinforcing cycle where the documentation of an experience often replaces the actual living of it. This behaviour is driven by the psychological need for validation and the belief that an experience somehow holds less value if it isn't shared.

Influencer culture.

Influencer culture thrives on filters and photo editing, creating beauty standards that are hardly ideal or achievable in real life. Constant exposure to these ‘perfect’ images can distort how viewers perceive their physical selves. This can lead to insecurity, or in severe cases, symptoms of body dysmorphia. Even though some influencers do present their authentic life online, algorithms often promote content that is far from authentic. Beauty standards are evolving every second, and influencers are the center of this loop.

 

However, many influencers rely on cosmetic procedures, editing tools, and filters to maintain a certain image. The images of these influencers that are being presented online can lead to-

●        Unrealistic standards: Perfectly curated pictures through editing and filters can set unachievable beauty targets in the community.

●        Body dissatisfaction: Constant exposure to perfected images can distort self-perception which can lead to issues regarding body image.

●        Validation addiction: The chase for likes, comments and followers can lead to dependence on external approval for happiness or a “people pleasing” attitude in general.

●        Commercialization of identity: Commitment to brands because of sponsorships can lead to false advertisement and potential financial problems among the viewers.

●        Pressure to conform: Young people may feel compelled to imitate influencer lifestyles, trends or aesthetics to fit in.

●        Distorted relationships: Chronically online people may have problems having genuine connection, leaving interactions shallow or transactional.

 

Positive impacts of social media.

When users move away from curated "performance," social media can be a powerful venue for personal growth.

●        New ways to learn: Social networks make it easier for the general public to connect and learn in new ways, often serving as a primary source for breaking news and social updates.

●        Meaningful engagement: When users move from mindless scrolling to meaningful engagement (such as leaving positive comments and having genuine conversations), social media acts as a support system for varying communities.

●        Discovery: The algorithm provides the major advantage of discovering new interests and information that a user might not have encountered otherwise.

●        Community building: Individuals can find engagement and connect with like-minded people across the world.

 

Precautions to take when using social media.

To use social media more mindfully, the following practices can help:

 

●        Control your consumption of social media by avoiding doomscrolling to prevent mental and physical straining.

●        Focus on your personal values and achievements that are independent of external validation like likes, comments, or followers

●        Be mindful of who you interact with and share personal information with online.

●        Users are encouraged to keep themselves safe from harmful content by blocking keywords, topics, or specific creators.

●        Make sure to communicate with higher authorities in cases of cyber-bullying, predatory cases and an unsafe environment in general.

●        Have a generally detached perception of algorithmic feeds and keep social media separate from real life.

 

Awareness of these influences allows individuals to engage with social media more consciously, without letting it define their self-worth or sense of reality.

Written By
Prekshya Katara

Student Pressure

 What Lies Behind The Grades

The clock says 1 AM. A student is sitting at his desk with books open in front of him. Since everyone’s asleep, the house is quiet… but his mind isn’t. The same chapter has been read three times, yet nothing seems to register. The clock keeps moving, the exam keeps getting closer and a thought keeps growing louder: “What if I don’t do well tomorrow?”

 To people, student pressure is often just someone studying late, attending classes or making notes. But behind this simple routine, most students go through struggles they never talk about.

 One of the biggest fears includes disappointing their parents. Most parents want the best for their children and remind them how important education is for the future. But somewhere along the way, those hopes can start to feel like expectations that must be met at any cost. A result begins to feel less like a grade and more like a way to judge oneself. When things don’t go as planned, the first thought isn’t always frustration, sometimes it’s guilt.

 At the same time, comparison also becomes a part of everyday life. Someone in the class always seems to score higher. A friend finishes studying an entire chapter beforehand. Another already knows which college they want to go to. And social media doesn’t help either, showing everyone else’s achievements. After all this, It doesn’t take long to feel like everyone else is ahead. That’s when the thought that many students know too well appears: “I’m trying, but it still doesn’t feel like enough.”

 This pressure becomes even more intense once students enter high school. These years are often described as the most important phase of a student’s academic life. Board exams, competitive exams, coaching classes and constant reminders about the future start piling up all at once. Students push themselves to study longer hours, sometimes sacrificing sleep, hobbies, and time to simply relax. Gradually, the exhaustion begins to show. Sometimes it’s just the feeling of being mentally tired all the time.

 The fact is, expectations come from everywhere: parents, teachers, friends, and often from students themselves. When expectations keep rising, they stop motivating and begin creating more pressure.

 And yet, most students rarely talk about it. They keep studying and keep trying while also carrying these thoughts inside.

 Maybe the conversation around student success needs to change a little. Even though academic achievements matter, they don’t define a person’s true worth. Behind every student is someone trying their best to figure things out, often under more pressure than people realize.

 And so, what students don’t say out loud is exactly what we need to start listening to.

Written by
Samika Punj

Behind a Smile

 

We stress, we smile anyway.

 

“I’m okay”

Is the most common lie every person must’ve said in his/her life.
That’s probably when backlogs rise, people expect something heavier than we can carry. There’s a phase in everyone’s life where we run on 4-hour sleep and try to perform like a robot.

We walk into school with hollow happiness and strength, laughing with friends, posting stories that make life look absolutely perfect.
But behind that smile, there is stress, pressure and a constant fear of not matching with others. Somewhere along the way, we didn’t ‘just’ learn subjects, we learned to hide our stress behind a smile.

Daily pressure compels us to not to open up with the fear of being judged and termed as ‘weak’ by the society and sometimes even our friends.

[“a student in India dies by suicide every 42 minutes, highlighting a deepening crisis of academic pressure and mental health neglect.”] – The Times of India report.

Ideally, a child must live in a vacuum, the irony is he/she lives in a high-pressure cooker where the whistle never blows… For a 10th or a 12th grader in India, there are stereotypes set as per the marks they score. A kid scoring 95% in boards is often asked to pursue Science group.

It is a gruelling cycle of school hours, followed by coaching shops, capped off with late night self-studies.
We are told this is the hustle required for success, but rarely do we discuss the toll it takes on the person behind the admission number.

 

It is never just the weight of books, it’s the weight of the ‘comparison’ that has been digitized through social media and merit list. “Is a child not doing enough?” The constant state of being judged and compared by hundreds of relatives and most importantly “SELF-DOUBT”.

With this we have normalized anxiety and stress as a prerequisite for achievement. We have started believing that if we aren’t stressed then we might not be working hard enough.

 

THERE IS A VERY THIN LINE BETWEEN DISCIPLINED EFFORT AND A COMPLETE EMOTIONAL COLLAPSE, and many have already been crossed under the guise of “healthy competition”.

This pressure doesn’t stop at a student’s study table. It is a radiation into the home. For parents and teachers, the “smile” is often a shared one. Adults carry the burden of wanting the best for their children. Often equating academic security with survival.

In a country like ours, where competition is a survival instinct, a parent’s anxiety is just their love dressed up in a suit of worry. They push because they are scared of a world that doesn’t forgive a low rank. But in this process, the dining table slowly turns into a second coaching desk where every conversation is about the next mock test or the rising cut-offs. We need to realize that parents are also running a race they didn't sign up for, trying to measure their success as providers by the percentages on our report cards. They smile to stay strong for us, and we smile to not disappoint them, creating a house full of people who are all holding their breath at the same time.

Then there is the messy, complicated world of teen relationships. We are at an age where our friends are our entire world, yet we treat each other like academic rivals. We walk the school corridors together, sharing memes and lunch, but we hesitate to share the fact that we cried last night over a physics chapter. There’s this unspoken fear that if we show a crack in our armour, we’ll be labelled as "weak" or "not serious enough" for the goals we’ve set. Even in love, it’s a silent storm. One-sided feelings, heartbreaks, and the confusion of growing up are pushed into the corner because "boards are more important." We are becoming a generation that is socially connected but emotionally isolated, laughing in group photos while feeling utterly alone in our heads.

If we keep going like this, the "smile" won’t just be a mask anymore, it will become a scar. Chronic stress isn't just a mood; it’s a slow erosion of our actual potential. When you run on 4-hour sleep and constant cortisol, your brain stops being the sharp tool needed for IIT or NEET and starts becoming a foggy, exhausted machine. We see it in the rising aggression, the insomnia, and that "zombie" feeling where you’re physically present in class but mentally miles away, drowning in backlogs. We are engineering high-scorers, but we might be losing the very humans inside them.

The solution isn't to stop dreaming or stop working hard. It’s about changing how we measure a "good day." For parents, it could be as simple as having one meal a day where marks and coaching are banned topics. For us students, it means looking at a friend not as a competitor to beat, but as a teammate to carry. We need "Project Awaazz" a real awareness where we stop grading handwriting and start noticing heartbreak. Schools shouldn't just be places where we learn subjects; they should be places where we learn to stay steady.

At the end of the day, a rank is just a number on a piece of paper, but a healthy mind is the foundation for everything we want to build. We’re going to prove that you can chase the biggest goals in the world without losing yourself in the process. It’s time to stop pretending everything is fine and actually make it fine. Let’s keep the hustle, but let’s finally lose the mask. No more hollow happiness. No more silent battles. Just real support, real talk, and a smile that actually means what it says.

 Because maybe the goal was never to remove the pressure completely, but to make sure it doesn’t take away who we are…

Maybe success isn’t just about ranks, colleges, or cut-offs, but about reaching there without breaking ourselves in the process.

And maybe, just maybe, the next time someone says “I’m okay,” we pause for a second and actually mean it when we ask, “Are you really?”

Because behind every smile, there’s a story, and it deserves to be heard, not hidden.

Written by
Chetan Kumar Grover

Stream Awareness

 

 Stream selection- still an issue?

Choosing a stream after class 10^th is one of the most important academic decisions in a student’s life. For many students and parents, this decision feels nerve-racking because it is often seen as a choice that will determine a child’s future. Stream selection is about choosing a student’s interests, abilities and goals. In 2026, this choice is made more flexible than ever before. Many schools offer a wide range of subjects and combinations to ensure we can explore multiple career opportunities. Career counselling sessions and support from a school counsellor help to build a direction for the students.

The three main streams available to students are science, commerce and humanities, each having its own pros and problems. One of the biggest problems with stream selection is the pressure from society and parents.

Science=success always?, breaking the myth

According to society, science is seen as a challenging path, which includes combinations like PCM, PCB or PCMB. It is seen as a prestigious path that should be taken up by most students. Students who enjoy problem solving, logical thinking and are interested in deep physics and chemistry concepts should opt for science, if they are looking for career options like engineering, data sciences, medical, architecture, biotechnology, etc., science is a perfect fit for them. Many students tend to take up this stream due to the pressure of their parents, as they believe this stream always offers success; however, this is not true at all. Success is not defined by the stream one chooses; it lies in the skills a person upholds. While it is true that science offers many opportunities, it is not a good option for those who do not enjoy problem solving, calculations and rational thinking concepts. Many students are more interested in creative fields, financial budgeting, economic approaches and liberal arts. When students choose a stream under pressure rather than passion, they often struggle academically and mentally. They are more likely to succeed in what they truly enjoy. Success is subjective; to some, it is earning money, while to others, it can be staying happy and content.

Commerce careers beyond CA

The commerce stream focuses on business skills, finance and economic systems. Common subjects include accountancy, business studies and economics. Students can opt for commerce with mathematics or without mathematics. It is believed that commerce without mathematics does not have scope, and there are very limited opportunities to explore. This is completely untrue because, as a matter of fact, many popular career opportunities in commerce, like CA/CS, do not even require mathematics. If you are someone who enjoys practical learning, real-world problem-solving and working with numbers, you should opt for the commerce stream. A common concern is that students lack knowledge about the opportunities this stream offers. Career options, except for CA, are data analyst, financial analyst, economics major, CMA, banking, law, digital marketing, advertising, and entrepreneurship. You can even take courses like psychology, stock marketing and even hotel management jobs. Most of these paths do not require strong mathematics; there is a wide range of opportunities for both commerce with and without maths. Commerce offers both stability and flexibility and is not just limited to business families.

Humanities- an underrated stream?

Attending counselling sessions, mainly talk about science or commerce, very few people actually know about the possibilities which humanities offer. Most parents believe humanities is not a good stream option as they are unaware of the paths available in this stream. This stream is often misunderstood. Subjects include history, political science, geography, sociology, psychology, philosophy and economics. This stream is ideal for those who have a creative mindset, who enjoy writing, reading, discussion and learning about society. It develops critical thinking and communication skills. Students who choose the Arts are sometimes judged as less capable or less ambitious. This stream is just “undervalued”, as it not just teaches students academic skills, but life skills which are highly valued in today's world. Career paths include law, journalism, civil services, teaching, psychology, design, international relations, public policy, media and even geographers. Many high-paid job opportunities, like IAS and IPS officers, are also offered in this stream. The idea that only science or commerce leads to success is outdated. The idea of expressing yourself and analysing situations is unique in this stream. This stream is not underrated because of its “limit” but because of the “bias” and lack of awareness.

Difficulty in choosing your stream

Riya had always loved drawing. Her notebooks were filled with sketches long before they were filled with notes. But when her Class 10 results came out 93% everything changed. The congratulations quickly turned into assumptions. “So, Science le rahi ho na?” relatives asked, as if there was no other option.
“With these marks, you have to take Science,” someone insisted.

No one asked what she actually wanted.

At school, too, Science was seen as the “best” stream. Meanwhile, her friend Aarav, who scored 75%, was told, “Commerce is fine for you; Science is tough anyway.” It didn’t sound like guidance; it sounded like limitation. A boundary that was set for him.
High marks meant pressure to prove yourself through Science.
Lower marks meant being quietly pushed into “safer” options. Riya wondered, “Why do marks decide not by ability, a person’s path?” The next day, when her father asked about her decision, she paused and said softly, “I want to take Humanities.”

There was silence, not because it was wrong, but because it wasn’t expected.

Major difficulties while choosing a stream are parent pressure and confusion. Honest communication should be encouraged between both parents and the child. Taking aptitude tests and career psychometric tests often gives clarity. Parents should seek support from counsellors, teachers or career experts to know what suits their child. Some questions to ask yourself are listed below-

1)What kind of life do I imagine for myself?

2)What career excites me?

3)Which subjects come naturally to me?

4)Do I like understanding concepts or expressing myself?

5)Am I ready to handle work load of this stream?

6)Which choice feels right for me?

In conclusion, this decision may feel stressful and may seem like deciding your future, but in reality, this is just the beginning of your journey ahead. As long as marks continue to define capability and society continues to rank streams, students like Riya and Aarav will keep facing confusion instead of clarity. No number on a marksheet should be powerful enough to decide who you are or who you can become. Let's move ahead and give all streams a chance!

Written by
Aishaa Oberoi