22.3% escape into scrolling when stress peaks

The full distribution for “If you experience severe emotional stress, what is your immediate coping mechanism?” (n = 399) is: Isolating myself and internalizing the problem — 41.9% (167); Sharing my feelings with real-life friends or family — 34.1% (136); Escaping into social media scrolling or binge-watching — 22.3% (89); Seeking professional psychological counseling — 1.8% (7).

The cohort is closely divided on this question. With only 7.8 percentage points between the top two answers, no single response can be treated as the cohort's position. The smallest recorded answer, seeking professional psychological counseling, still represents 7 people — a group large enough to matter in programme design even at 1.8%.

“Which smartphone habit causes you the most disruption in daily life?” (n = 399) returns: Mindlessly scrolling short-form videos (Reels/Shorts) for hours — 60.2% (240); Interrupting study/work immediately to reply to chat messages — 25.1% (100); Feeling anxious or restless when the phone is away from me — 8% (32); Checking notifications late at night past midnight in bed — 6.8% (27).

Placed beside the primary figure, this measure shows a majority position — 60.2% on Mindlessly scrolling short-form videos (Reels/Shorts) for hours — which is the more reliable of the two anchors here. Read together, the two questions describe cross-cutting analysis as a pattern reported across the cohort rather than an issue confined to a minority of respondents.

These are self-reported answers from a community-recruited cohort of 399 young Keralites surveyed between 21 May and 28 June 2026. They are not probability-sample estimates of Kerala's youth population, and confidence intervals from random sampling do not apply.

Because 74.4% of respondents sit in one age band and 72.7% identify as male, subgroup differences are indicative at best. Cross-tabulated claims require a larger, stratified sample.

Finally, the survey measures single-point self-report, so it can establish association and scale but not direction or cause. Where this brief notes a pattern across two questions, that pattern is descriptive.