Prakarti Walia

Smartphones are becoming an indispensable part of everyday life for most adolescents in India. The pandemic shifted learning to online platforms, resulting in increased browsing time. 

Turn the Bus conducted a follow up survey to collect students’ scores after their intermediate exams and to get an idea of the resources available for exam preparation. It was found that 94% of the boys had a personal phone whereas only 33% of girls owned a smartphone. Their smartphone usage pattern revealed that there is a heavy usage among boys, with 58% spending more than 6 hours a day on their phones. And lack of smartphone ownership among girls transferred into a lower usage, girls spend only 2 hrs on a borrowed phone on an average per day.  

Limited access to phones would mean keeping girls from the life-changing technologies mobile phones now offer. And we cannot think of making the digital revolution a success if girls without access to digital solutions are left behind.