Maharashtra Village Goes Offline Everyday To Help People Talk

A village in Maharashtra declared “independence” from online addiction and goes offline daily for a couple of hours. At 7 pm sharp, a siren goes off in the Vadgaon village in the Sangli district and all residents turn off their televisions and mobile phones.

At 8:30 pm, the siren sounds again and the televisions and mobile phones can be switched on once again.

The village council sounds the alarm and alerts the village of 3,000 people that it's time to shut off their devices and interact with each other.

Maharashtra Village Goes Offline Everyday

President of the village council, Vijay Mohite said that the village came to the decision at a meeting on August 14. He said that the children in the village had become dependent on mobile phones and televisions for online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after schools reopened, the children would “either play on their mobile phones or sit and watch television”.

Mohite added that adults were also spending time on their devices and not talking with each other. Parents found it difficult to supervise their children as they were engrossed with their devices.

However, it was not an easy task for the village council to get everyone to agree with the proposal of digital detox. While the village men scoffed at the idea, the women admitted they often got drawn into watching television series and agreed to the digital detox.

Another village council meeting was held and they decided to install a siren above the village temple. Once the siren went off at 7 pm, the council staff and a group of villagers would go around the village and urge people to switch off their devices.

After one and a half hours, the siren goes off again and villagers are free to switch on their devices once again.

According to Mohite, the decision has been implemented fully across the village.

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