The Delhi and Faridabad administration and the Department of Education have directed all schools to ensure that no students, teachers or staff should indulge in reel or short video creation during school hours. This order emphasises that such activities hamper the teaching and learning process. Any such activity must be prohibited that distracts students so that focus is maintained on education.
The circular was issued on March 25, 2026, a Wednesday, when authorities flagged that entertainment videos were being created in school premises. The Faridabad district education officer noticed how reel culture is creeping into classrooms, hence ordering all schools in the district to ban this activity. This raises issues of discipline, institutional dignity and integrity of the teaching-learning environment.
The matter was marked ‘most urgent’, and it was stated that violation of instructions will be viewed seriously. However, the department has stated that content related to academic, cultural or awareness themes may be allowed to be created, but only with prior approval from the authority and under complete supervision of teachers. It also stated that such reels must be allowed only if it ensures that academic activities are not disturbed and students’ safety and privacy are maintained. All school heads have been instructed to disseminate these instructions among staff and students, ensuring no inappropriate, non-academic or promotional material should be recorded on school premises.
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Impact of Early Exposure to Content Creation
Social media usage is not limited to adults. Children spend a lot of time on social media viewing reels and short videos. Videos aimed at children use kid influencers, which impacts children’s mental, emotional and physical well-being. Content related to history, science, art and social issues makes education approachable. But content focused on entertainment reels also inflates expectations. Kidfluencers are children with large social media followings. They engage in activities like content creation and promotions(Cordeiro, V. C.,2025). Content creation involving kids produces pressure on them to produce daily content, look perfect (Foster, B., & Foster, B.,2025).
Research suggests that kids indulged in content creation have the potential to alter the future aspirations of other young children. This prospect of pursuing influencing and content creation as a future career choice may pull children away from education (Rasmussen, E. E. et al.,2022). Once the child indulges in content creation, the constant demands of social media, like constantly checking notifications and responding to comments, can divert the child’s attention from studies, which causes decreased academic performance. Also, social media attention, approval and popularity can reduce their motivation to study. Their prime focus then becomes gaining followers and not academic excellence.
Children’s self esteem body image are heavily influenced by social media, creating dissatisfaction with their own appearance and life. Overall, they may start viewing success as fame, popularity and materialistic in nature (Ibrahim et al.,2025). Apart from this, there is a loss of privacy and Child exploitation. In households with kidfluencers, parentification also takes place. It is a dynamic where children take adult responsibilities to meet caregivers’ emotional and practical needs. This leads to performance pressure, public exposure and internalisation of adult expectations without the maturity needed to cope with it ( Hooper, 2007). Also, monetisation by kidfluencers leads to them being performance-driven. Even their privacy becomes a product (MBPsS, A. G,2025)
References +
Pti. (2026b, March 26). No reels, short videos during class hours: Faridabad admin’s directive to schools | Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/no-reels-short-videos-during-class-hours-faridabad-admins-directive-to-schools-101774533576393.html
Pti. (2026, March 26). No reels, short videos during class hours: Delhi government directive to schools. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/no-reels-short-videos-during-class-hours-delhi-government-directive-to-schools/article70788263.ece
Desk, E. (2026, March 28). Faridabad schools ban filming reels in class; cite distraction concerns. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/education/filming-reels-in-class-faridabad-schools-ban-cites-distraction-concerns-10603832/
Foster, B., & Foster, B. (2025, June 27). Is it OK for kids to be influencers? All Pro Dad. https://allprodad.com/is-it-ok-kid-influencers/
Rasmussen, E. E., Riggs, R. E., & Sauermilch, W. S. (2022). Kidfluencer exposure, materialism, and U.S. tweens’ purchase of sponsored products. Journal of Children and Media, 16(1), 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2021.1910053
MBPsS, A. G. (2025, April 14). Exploring the psychology behind kidfluencing. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-realities-of-refugee-screening/202504/when-your-childhood-is-monetized
Ibrahim, N. a. N., Malek, A. M. A., Sham, S. S. A., Anuar, A., Najib, M. a. M., Amirulbahri, A., Mahbob, M. H., & Kahar, N. (2025). The impact of influencer culture on children. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, IX(II), 3030–3035. https://doi.org/10.47772/ijriss.2025.9020236
Cordeiro, V. C. (2025, December 5). “Kidfluencers” and Social Media: The evolution of child exploitation in the Digital Age – Humanium. Humanium. https://www.humanium.org/en/kidfluencers-and-social-media-the-evolution-of-child-exploitation-in-the-digital-age/
