Mobile phones and technology have had two implications in society that juxtapose one another. The first being the quintessential image, acknowledging that they have made our lives easier be it video chatting from anywhere in the world to making online payments. The other negative one, showing how it has made us lazier, prone to screen addiction and so on.
In India, the numbers of mobile phone users have been steadily increasing with most users aged between 20 and 30. However, contrasting this increase is a complete ban on mobile phones in educational institutions in states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The justifications are somewhat homogenous based on the latter implication I discussed above. That mobile phones are affecting the students’ studies, the youth are using phones for lewd activities and so on.
Although these may be justifiable for school, its extension to the college level is faulty on several levels. Authorities have failed to accept that mobile phones have become an inescapable part of our lives, especially those of college students. Sending notes, downloading e-books, browsing the net is just a fraction of all the things that phones have brought.
The ban could have instead taken the form of restrictions during lecture hours or vigilance against immoral activities, but instead, they chose the easier way out, clinging on to preconceived notions of the ‘good old days’ where students didn’t have mobile phones and were supposed to be much better. They believe that just because students back then could manage without them, the new generation can and should not use them.
But, is this rise in mobile phone use and technology exclusive to just the new gen? Yes, they make up the majority, but reports show that the proportion of older to young users is increasing. The wave has seeped into their practices and lives too. The tradition of sending children to coaching institutes has seen a renovation with the rise of online tuition centers like Byju’s.
Why should matrimonial websites be used when marriages in the ‘good old days’ didn’t have such a facility? If such a change is acceptable in these areas, then it surely shouldn’t hold many ramifications to the lives of people who will face the real world in a few years.
The same teacher who laments over how phones and the internet is ruining the lives of students, won’t have any beef in sending an entire PowerPoint presentation through WhatsApp and relieving their own burden. Thus, this selective concern shown is hypocritical.
Adding on, I think that the main problem is the fact that society can’t treat college students as adults. College separates itself from school in the sense it should be a place where students ought to take decisions themselves and be independent. So what if a student has ‘fun’ on his phone? They should be responsible enough to make sure the phone doesn’t distract them too much or affect their studies. Reputed universities like MIT or Harvard don’t have a complete ban on phones in campus and their students’ studies certainly aren’t affected by it.
In Kerala, mobile phones have had rather different connotations in recent times. Other than the usual nagging about youth being spoilt by phones, there are abundant cases of self appointed citizens or netizens advocating their own ‘correct’ usage of mobile phones and the net.
Kerala despite its high literacy, is rampant with cases of moral policing and this has extended to the digital platform as well. Such a case happened in Kilinakode, Malappuram recently. A few college girls had posted a video, mocking a group of villagers who had morally policed them for taking selfies with boys during a wedding. They were met with explosive reactions from several men across social media. They were abused and trolled.
Some went so far as to post videos threatening them and saying their ‘immoral’ activities wouldn’t be allowed. Other cases like the cyber-bullying of an actress show that the whole mobile phone issue can never be solved by simple reductionist approaches.
To conclude, it’s time to let go of the moral policeman as far as mobile phones are concerned. The judicious use of mobile phones and any technology, for that matter, should never be supplanted by the paranoia of their misuse.