MP Warns: Growing Mental Health Crisis Among Malaysian Children from Excessive Screen Time | KiddyNews

Malaysian children are increasingly at risk of a mental‑health crisis, driven by excessive internet use, digital addiction, and early exposure to harmful online content, according to Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin (2^nd December 2025).

During a parliamentary briefing, Yeo, chair of the Special Select Committee on Women, Children, and Community Development, highlighted alarming findings from recent surveys and studies:

• A 2024 Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) survey showed that 55.7% of children use the internet for one to four hours daily, with 60.7% owning their own devices.
• A study of 5,290 teenagers across seven states found that 3.5% were diagnosed with internet‑gaming disorder (IGD) — about 315,000 children nationwide. IGD is linked to impulsive behaviour, poor attention spans, and emotional issues. Among affected teens, 48.1% experienced severe anxiety, 37.4% suffered serious depression, and 18.2% reported high stress.
• Early exposure to pornography and explicit digital content is a major factor in risky sexual behaviour. Nearly 90% of teenagers engaging in repeated sexual activity had been exposed to pornography, social media, or other sexualized digital content.

“The management of children’s mental health in schools remains inconsistent and incomplete, while digital literacy and parental supervision over children’s device use are still weak,” Yeo said.

Scale of the Problem

The report also highlighted the scale of sexual offences involving minors, noting that children were involved in nearly half of sexual crime cases. With 68.1% of statutory rape cases involving “consensual” sex between minors under 16, the committee urged legal reforms to ensure fair accountability for both parties.

Key Challenges Identified

The committee outlined three main hurdles in tackling online dangers:

1. Inadequate enforcement of digital safety regulations
2. Non-compliance by global platforms
3. Limited capacity and funding for MCMC to monitor the internet
   
   

Recommendations

To address these challenges, the committee made comprehensive recommendations:

• National Centre of Excellence in Mental Health (NCEMH): Empower NCEMH under the Health Ministry as the national agency for children’s mental health, with Education and Women, Family & Community Development Ministries as strategic partners. NCEMH’s strengthened role would include:

1. Collaborating with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to carry out systematic mental-health screenings in schools.
2. Training teachers and school counsellors to identify digital addiction, IGD, social anxiety, sexual addiction, and other mental-health issues, with referrals to Ministry of Health (MOH) institutions as needed.
3. Guiding the replacement of educational materials that overemphasize social conformity with social and emotional learning programs, following academic and UNICEF recommendations.

• Digital safety improvements: Increase MCMC funding, expand web monitoring teams, and adopt modern technologies to track harmful content.
• Legal and protective measures: Amend statutory rape laws for equal accountability, expand Op Pedo efforts to curb child sexual abuse materials, and introduce targeted parenting education through National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) to strengthen parent-child relationships and emotional resilience.
  
  

Why This Matters

The combined pressures of digital overuse, online exposure to harmful content, and limited mental-health resources are creating a perfect storm for children’s emotional and psychological well-being. Experts warn that without early intervention, anxiety, depression, and long-term developmental impacts could increase significantly.

What are your thoughts?

With children spending more time online than ever, should stricter digital-safety laws, nationwide mental-health screenings in schools, and stronger parental support be the priority, or is it the responsibility of families to manage screen time at home?

Source:

Free Malaysia Today – “MP warns of mental health crisis among kids due to excessive internet use”
Malay Mail – “Children’s mental health needs more than teachers, says Yeo as panel urges national centre”

Thoughtfully adapted by KiddyNews. Keeping parents and educators informed with the latest ECCE developments from Malaysia and beyond.