Bengaluru: If anecdotal evidence from villages close to Bengaluru is an indicator of an emerging trend, it seems smartphones and internet connectivity are playing a role in keeping kids away from their parents.
Take, for instance, villages near Tumakuru, 70 km from Bengaluru. Hostellers and day scholars prefer to be in Tumakuru on weekends instead of going home simply because their villages have poor or no connectivity.
Tumakuru is an educational hub. Five major institutions and smaller ones offer professional and other courses that attract thousands of students from surrounding and faroff villages.
Like Chandra Shekar K, a first-year PU student from Kolala village, 30 km from Tumakuru. The 17-year old can't take his hands off his new smartphone.
“I bought it out of curiosity as my college friends were always on their smartphones. Now I can't do without it. I love to be on Facebook, and aim at having more than 1,000 names on my friends list,“ Chandra Shekar says. That, predictably, keeps him away from home, where internet connectivity is annoyingly slow.With basic Android handsets available for just Rs 2,000, smartphones are a musthave for students.
Another attraction is Wi-Fi enabled campuses. The craze for free Wi-Fi is such that many students have rented rooms around the campus to make maximum use of the service.
Source: TimesOfIndia
