Srinagar, June 11 -- By Prof. M. Aslam

I have listened to radio news for most of my life. Every now and then, a brief news item sparks a larger question. One such report recently caught my attention: Malaysia has decided to bar children under the age of 16 from registering on social media platforms.

That announcement may sound dramatic to some people. To me, it sounds like a serious attempt to address one of the defining challenges of modern childhood.

Children today grow up in a world very different from the one their parents experienced. Social interaction, entertainment, learning, advertising and peer pressure now arrive through the same small screen. A child can move within minutes from a homework video to harmful content, manipula...