Cellphones are all the rage on most college campuses because the cell phone technology has now gone well beyond placing a simple call. Tamil Nadu has become the first state in India to ban mobile phones in colleges. The DCE issued a notification stating that all the arts, science, commerce and other colleges under their purview will ban mobile phones inside the campus.

There are mainly three reasons for imposing the ban: some students take inappropriate pictures of women faculty and female classmates; misuse of mobile phones in examination and disruption.

“Students film women faculty members in awkward positions and share videos on social media. In co-educational institutions, women students are filmed in the company of their male friends and the videos are later misused.

“But considering the need to have connectivity, we have allowed the use of phones in the cafeteria and outside the campus, and strictly not inside the classroom,” says Dr Poongodi of Kovai Govt Arts.

Dr Sasikala Sundar, an Engineering professor from PSG Tech says: ” The situation where students rely only on books for knowledge is totally changed. Besides that the college management too provides free WiFi facilities for the students. Both students and staff will definitely need mobile phones for browsing information, especially in the field of Engineering where technology is unavoidable. The misuse of mobile phones can only be avoided by students through their self control.”

With the advancement in technology, machines have taken over the place of man. Books are replaced by gadgets, teachers are replaced by robots or virtual teaching apps. It is in a way good to adapt to the technological progress in this growing world. But with this one must not lose his/her inborn humane quality.

The face to face communication is lost among the people especially the youngsters. Scientific research states that the Generation Y (those born after 1980s) epitomize the term ‘Digital Natives’ growing amidst the fast evolving technology.

“Students nowadays are immersed completely in social media. Hundreds of selfies a day and not even a little chit chat with a person sitting next to them. Mobiles do have their pros and cons. Having a mobile handy with you all the time makes one feel safe and secure. I don’t therefore favour banning mobile phones inside the campus; rather I would recommend the students to use it in a productive way,” says Dr Mathangi of PSGR Krishnammal College.