Teenager Stabs Mother in Alappuzha Over Mobile Charger: A Case Raising Questions on Adolescent Digital and Mental Health

Alappuzha, Kerala — On 1 October 2025, a 17-year-old girl allegedly stabbed her mother in the neck following an argument over a mobile phone charger. The mother, identified as a local Mahila Congress leader, is reported to have hidden the charger and refused to return it, triggering a confrontation. The injured woman was admitted to Vandanam Medical College where she is receiving treatment.

According to published local reports, tensions had been escalating over her daughter’s mobile phone habits prior to the incident and even police had interfered in the matter. The police have initiated an investigation; further details about motive, mental evaluation, or legal status of the minor have not yet been disclosed.

Context: Adolescent Mobile Use, Behavioral Patterns, and Risks

The violent outcome of this dispute brings to light broader concerns about adolescent engagement with mobile devices, including excessive use, dependency, and psychological effects. In Kerala, between 2023 and end-2024, over 15,000 children were reported to have received treatment at mental health services for problems associated with excessive mobile phone use, with issues such as depression, anxiety, high stress, and academic decline cited among cases. The state’s Department of Women and Child Development, district resource centres, and school counselling networks have documented that such excessive usage can carry mental and physical consequences.

Several studies and reviews have characterised links between problematic mobile or game use and negative mental health outcomes in adolescents and young adults:

• A study on mobile game addiction found positive associations with social anxiety, depression, and feelings of loneliness among users.¹

• Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) - recognised as a behavioural disorder under the World Health Organization’s ICD classification is defined as persistent, recurrent use of internet games leading to clinically significant impairment or distress.³

• In a qualitative analysis of adolescent gamers, participants described emotional withdrawal symptoms (e.g. irritability, mood changes) when unable to game, and emphasized loss of time, social conflict, and decline in other life activities.³

• Among female adolescent gamers, studies have reported associations between problematic gaming and emotional or behavioral difficulties (e.g. difficulties in regulation, anxiety, depression) though data remain more limited compared to male populations.⁴

• In Kerala specifically, among medical students in Central Kerala, a study using the IGDT-10 tool found approximately 6.98 % showed patterns of problematic gaming. These individuals were more likely to report headaches, neck pain, wrist pain, and other physical complaints. ²

These findings suggest that heavy engagement with mobile games or devices may contribute to psychosocial stress, irritability, withdrawal symptoms, and conflict in interpersonal relationships.

Mechanistically, repeated exposure to rewarding elements, notifications, in-app reinforcements, and persuasive design features in apps may promote habit formation and compulsive checking behaviour. Over time, this can reduce self-regulation capacity, increase impulsivity, and impair coping under stress.

A Comparable Incident in Kerala

Earlier, in December 2024, a 14-year-old boy in Kozhikode stabbed his mother after she refused to let him use her mobile phone for gaming. The boy, who had dropped out of school, demanded access to his mother’s device after his internet plan ran out; when she denied his request, he attacked her while she was asleep.

The injury was reported to be non-life threatening.

Such cases have drawn attention in Kerala, where authorities and mental health services have started to view extreme device dependence as a public health concern.

Actions and Interventions

Given the possibility of digital dependence contributing to such extreme outcomes, several strategies may help reduce risk:

• Early screening and counselling: Schools and primary health settings may adopt brief screening tools.

• Psychoeducation: Educating adolescents and caregivers about healthy device use limits, recognizing signs of problematic behavior, and promoting alternative leisure and social activities.

• Structured behavioural therapy: Cognitive behavioural therapy adapted for problematic internet/gaming use may help with impulse control, relapse prevention, emotional regulation, and time management.

• Family therapy: Working with families to negotiate device-use rules, communication strategies, mutual understanding, and conflict resolution.

• Digital detox programs and gradual tapering: In more severe cases, supervised and structured reduction of screen time may be necessary, under mental health supervision.

• Policy, awareness and capacity building: Government and educational systems can support mental health programs, digital literacy, and awareness about digital addiction consequences in adolescents.

As legal processes proceed, medical and public health stakeholders may use this incident as a prompt to strengthen detection, prevention, and intervention frameworks around adolescent digital overuse.

References

1. Kim, Eun-Young, Young Yim Doh, and Hee Jeong Kim. “Mobile Game Addiction and Its Association with Social Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness in Adolescents.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 20 (2019): 3871. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6743417/.

2. Prasad, Praveen S., et al. “Internet Gaming Disorder among Medical Students: An Observational Study from Central Kerala, India.” Indian Journal of Psychiatry 63, no. 6 (2021): 629–635. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357441233_Internet_gaming_disorder_among_medical_students_An_observational_study_from_Central_Kerala_India.

3. Patel, Kiran, et al. “Exploring the Impact of Internet Gaming Disorder on Adolescent Gamers Using Thematic Analysis.” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 10, no. 1 (2021): 55–67. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349677246_Exploring_the_impact_of_internet_gaming_disorder_on_adolescent_gamers_using_thematic_analysis.

4. Velayutham, Sindhuja, et al. “Problematic Gaming and Its Psychological Correlates in Female Adolescents: A Review.” Frontiers in Psychiatry 14 (2023): 1081764. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1081764/full.

5. Stodt, Benjamin, et al. “The Addictive Potential of Digital Technologies: A Behavioral and Neurobiological Perspective.” arXiv, June 2021. https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.02604

(Rh/Eth/TL)