New Delhi, March 31 -- If hard proof were needed of the digital dominance of Indian eyeballs, then the latest Ficci-EY report on media and entertainment supplied it. In 2024, it says, digital media finally displaced TV as the top revenue-generator of this industry, notching up Rs.80,200 crore, almost a third of its overall pie. As estimated, over 40% of the time spent on phones in India is on social media platforms. Anecdotal evidence would suggest individuals aged under 18 are glued even harder to hand-held devices.

This, in itself, does not shock parents of teenagers. What has left many of them stunned lately, however, is the plausibility of a takeover that their first instinct is to deny: that their kids are being raised not by them, ...