Scholar-Journalist of the Week: Time to vote for ‘No Phone Day’

Isha Kohli, an Interior Design student with the Apeejay College of Fine Arts, is passionate about writing. Her hobbies include reading , especially autobiographies of people who helped make this world a better place to live. Fiction and mystery are among her favourite genres and the Harry Potter series is something that she loves. Aspiring to become an author and write books that can bring change in people’s lives, the Jalandhar-based girl declares, “My life experiences inspire me to write. I write when I am happy, sad or whenever something good or bad happens in my life. Also, sometimes listening to other people’s stories and experiences help me write about interesting topics.” Besides writing, Isha enjoys watching movies. In an interview, she highlights why it’s important to spend a day without your phone and internet. Edited excerpts:

What inspired you to write this article on ‘Time to vote for ‘No Phone Day’?

My habit of looking at my phone every few minutes led me to write on this topic. Honestly, writing on this topic has been a new learning experience for me and helped me identify how life would be if we don’t have phones and the Internet in our lives.

Didn’t you feel the urge to look at your phone – check notifications? How did you train yourself for that day? 

Even after I decided to experience and write about this, I was still a bit confused whether to go ahead with this exercise. Yes, the urge to look at the phone and check notifications was there in my mind. But honestly, I had a good and a peaceful experience. I switched off my phone and came to college. I spent the day attending lectures, going to the library and roaming around college campus during the free hours. One of the significant things that I learnt is there’s a life beyond the Internet that we need to explore. Experiencing nature’s beauty, reading books and connecting with people in person – these are beautiful activities that we can indulge in. And of course, it’s not always important to upload everything on social media.

Mobile phones and technology are an indispensable part of our lives. But why do you think ‘no phone day’ is important in an individual’s life?

Every day most of us are juggling between career choices, jobs, college assignments, and so on. And whenever we get some free time, we are glued to our phones. Then we complain that there’s no peace of mind. We must realise that the internet and social media are making people more robotic and sometimes less productive. It’s important to give time to oneself – to one’s mind, soul and body, and therefore, individuals need to disconnect from their phones.

Do you think you can be more productive on a day without phone and internet?

Yes, definitely phones make us less productive. Phones are a huge distraction that stands between us and actually getting the work done. We are working and a notification pops, the biggest distraction. Our sleeping patterns have disrupted as we keep scrolling through our social media platforms while in bed. The first thing we do in the morning when we wake up is check our phones – is there any notification? No doubt, Google has made our lives easier but lazier. Just say “Ok Google” and then you don’t even need to remember anything, your phone has become your personal assistant.