India, Feb. 28 -- Four states are talking about it and on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw conceded that the government is mulling "age-related restrictions on social media". Ever since Australia implemented one in December for under-16s, talk of a social media ban has gathered pace. At least 12 countries are in stages ranging between discussion to drafting bills.

Once social media was thought to be a warm and fuzzy community square where you could connect with long-lost school friends. Those innocent notions were effectively dispelled with the demonstration of Grok's digital stripping spree.

But well before Grok, we already had a mountain of research linking social media to mental health. New studies ...