In 2003, when the internet was still slow and screen exposure was barely part of the conversation, Dr. Menaka Manickaraj was already asking the questions most people wouldn't ask for another decade.
Then she became a mother. And the questions became personal.
She didn't want to simply keep her children away from screens. She wanted to understand them, challenge them, and, in her own words, hijack the screens before the screens hijacked childhood.
What began as one parent's concern grew into a movement. The Screen Smart Movement now reaches parents, teachers and schools, sparking honest conversations about attention, focus and healthier digital habits, one child, one school, one family at a time.
That work hasn't gone unnoticed. NCORE Foundation, India's first cyber rehabilitation organisation, features Dr. Menaka's voice and vision through its Digital Detox Junior programme, recognising her early foresight and her commitment to helping children navigate the digital world without losing the real one.
But for her, it was never about recognition. It was about acting, before the algorithm decided childhood for us.
Because the future of childhood cannot be left to the algorithm.
