Srinagar, July 8 -- Childhood is sacred, yet in today's hyper-connected world it is increasingly treated as raw material for content. The recent advisory on media engagement with minors is not just a bureaucratic note rather a powerful rebuke to a culture that too often sacrifices innocence at the altar of virality. When a school-going child was filmed outside school premises and his words broadcast across social media, the incident revealed a disturbing truth: the race for clicks and headlines can trample over the dignity and safety of those least able to defend themselves.

Children are not miniature adults, they cannot grasp the consequences of their words being amplified to thousands, nor anticipate the backlash that may follow. To pu...