The stereotype of India’s villages is of work and drudgery – but is that all? A new survey shows rural Indians are as obsessed with tech as their urban cousins -- for education, business and entertainment – while kids will play with anything on hand.
Hopscotch, kho-kho, pithu, hide-and-seek. Do you remember any of these?
Oh, these were a few of the games many of us played outdoors with friends and neighbours after school. But as we grew up and had access to smartphones, most of our downtime has been spent online.
Well, blurring the distinction between urban and rural India, it turns out tech is becoming the most popular pastime for villagers too.
Contradictory? Not here. Look at the photos submitted for our annual photo competition, Downtime in Rural India, which is centred on people’s joyous spirits overcoming the hardships of rural life.
Snapshots from India’s great outdoors – idyllic, except for the context – where the modern present and the traditional past collide and embrace each other in a happy melting pot.
These changes are reflected in data from a national study conducted by the Development Intelligence Unit (DIU) – a collaboration between Sambodhi and Transforming Rural India Foundation.
(READ: See the shortlist and finalist here)
In a quiet kitchen, the sun peeks through the window in a smoky, steamy slant as a mother cooks lunch and watches over her daughter revising her lessons. Two souls taking solace in each other.
A village square turns into an open classroom after dusk and kids learn the alphabets under the light of hurricane lamps. Someplace else, bare-chested boys compete in an engrossing sack race on a dirt road. Or, throw paper planes in the air and let their joy and dreams take flight together.
Similar scenes play out in rural communities around the country, where festivals also play a big role and create some compelling images.
But change is in the air too.
As in most of India, life in the countryside has changed since smartphones and internet connectivity began to spread.
“Similar to what we experience in urban India, the mobile has grabbed the attention of rural India as well. An inordinate amount of time is spent listening to music and playing games. This is true for men and women, boys and girls,” said Sandeep Ghosh of (DIU).
True, the cellphone is the ultimate distraction, but there’s no perfect formula for how much of it is good and it all depends on how attitudes change regarding technology. Families used to play games together in their own yards, or watch TV, or talk to neighbours over backyard fences. They still do. But in this streaming age, an increasing number of younger people do their chatting through social media on their smartphones. They get their entertainment fix from their phones, and laptops too. So they learn, and stay relevant.
As part of DIU’s Rural ThinkInsight Survey Series, the survey spanned 20 states with 2,655 sample responses. The respondents (48%) were mostly adolescents in the 14-19 age group and young, married adults between 20 and 35 years.
Life follows a routine for most teenage boys and young men: ablutions and breakfast before 9am, then school/college or tending farms, lunch, back home from class/work, afternoon naps, catching up with friends/neighbours, playing something (anything) on the playground and, of course, on their smartphones. Dinner is served before 9pm in rural India.
The survey reveals one particular constant. Girls and women hardly get any spare time as they cook family meals and are saddled with household chores like doing the dishes, laundry and cleaning the house. The study says 29% of teen girls do household work.
Between 8pm and 10pm, when most young men are on their phones or watching TV, the women are busy cooking or doing everyday tasks. Only 3% males take up such responsibilities, the study shows, and 31% of girls fetch water (running water is still a luxury in villages), compared to boys (18%). About 44% of teenage boys do some exercise – walk, run or do yoga – but that’s hardly the case for girls.
The tasks shoot up once a woman gets married. More than 50% of women are busy with their children and chores, compared to 1% of males. When it comes to young married men, as many as 29% spend their time on farm duties and on their phones.
As far as leisure time goes, adolescents and adults alike average at least two hours every day, anytime between noon and 8pm. The phone occupies most of this spare time – chatting, watching movies, playing games or listening to music. Only around 20% of teenagers read story books, magazines, newspapers, comic-books in their free time.
“As a kid, I played in the forest and farm. Now I am happy watching social media ‘reels’. The mobile has helped me learn dancing and know the world. My grandmother also uses my phone to listen to religious hymns,” said Champa, 21, from a village in Gujarat’s Kachchh region.
Similarly, a young father in Nagaland is using his phone and social media to promote ecotourism in his farm.
The phone and TV may be eating up their time, but given an opportunity teenagers will love to learn a craft, art or skill, like riding a bicycle, scooter or even a car and truck.
While girls voted for dance (24%), boys preferred playing outdoor sports (16%).
Many respondents cited money and lack of local facilities as impediments. This was especially the case for bicycles. There is a desire from those living amongst the great outdoors to have more access to playgrounds and skills-development facilities.
The survey also revealed that girls and women are also constrained by a conservative society when it comes to what they do in their leisure time.
The photo at the top shows outreach of technology in remote areas of rural India bringing education and entertainment to people (Photo by Surit Datta)
Kankana Trivedi is a manager at Development Intelligence Unit (DIU) and interested in environment and social justice issues.
