Question

Initially, in the late 1980s, cell phones are being looked at with distrust (misused by criminal elements). As late as 1998, they are perceived as luxury items (only the rich can own it and so owners should be taxed). By 2006, we have become the country with the fourth largest usage of cell phones. They have become so much part of our life that students are ready to go on a strike and appeal to the President of the country when denied cell phone usage in colleges. Try and organise a discussion in the class on the reasons for the amazing growth in cell phones usage in India.

• Has it happened because of clever marketing and media campaign? Is it still a status symbol?
• Or, is there a strong need for remaining ‘connected’, communicating with friends and near and dear ones?
• Are parents encouraging its usage in order to lessen their anxieties about children’s whereabouts?
• Try and find out the different reasons why the youth strongly feel the need for cell phones.

In 2020-21, due to COVID-19 pandemic, lakhs and lakhs of children began using cell phone and attended online classes. How do you see this change sociologically?

Answer 1

I. Marketing vs. Status Symbol

1. Shift from Luxury to Necessity: In the late 1990s, mobile phones were expensive status symbols for the rich. Today, due to ultra-cheap handsets and affordable data plans, they are basic structural necessities for survival.
2. Clever Marketing: Corporate advertisements changed the narrative from “luxury” to “empowerment” (e.g., marketing phones as tools for women’s safety, digital payments, and rural education).

II. The Need for Connectedness

• Time-Space Compression: Mobile phones have virtually eliminated geographical distance. They fulfill a deep human and social need to stay connected with family, especially for migrated workers and students living away from home.
• Social Capital: For the youth, staying connected on social media platforms is no longer just leisure; it is how they build peer networks, access information, and express their identity.

III. Parental Surveillance and Anxiety

• The Digital Leash: Parents actively encourage phone usage because it acts as a tool for constant surveillance.
• Anxiety Management: Being able to call or track their children’s location instantly reassures parents in urban environments, reshaping the traditional boundaries of parental control and youthful independence.

IV. Sociological Perspective on Post-COVID-19 Usage (Online Classes)

The pandemic-induced shift to online classes brought major structural changes to Indian society:

• Exacerbation of the Digital Divide: Millions of children in rural or economically marginalized households were pushed out of the education system because they could not afford smartphones or stable internet connections.
• Domestication of the Classroom: The sacred boundaries between the public space (school) and private space (home) collapsed. The home structurally transformed into a workplace and a school simultaneously.
• Accelerated Digital Socialization: Children began interacting with the world, making friends, and learning social norms primarily through digital screens rather than physical peer groups.