When Phone is Life and Data is Soul

Numbers tell a lot. Look around—everything in this universe, life itself, is built on numbers. Age, time—aren’t they just numbers? Numbers reveal secrets, tell stories, and ultimately decide everything.

Let’s consider one number—1.1 lakh crore (or 1.1 trillion). That’s 11 followed by ten zeros. A colossal figure! If a human life is assumed to last 85 years, then in this many hours, 1,47,730 lives would be lived and lost. Just thinking about it is exhausting.

We are talking about 1.1 lakh crore hours. But why?

Because a recent report reveals that Indians collectively spent these many hours in just one year—on their phones.

The annual Entertainment Report by consultancy firm Ernst & Young states that Indians, on average, use their phones for 5 hours daily. The report also confirms that in 2024, Indians spent 1.1 trillion hours on mobile phones, with 70% of that time consumed on social media, video platforms, and gaming. In short, we are primarily using our phones for entertainment.

Paradox of Our Consumption

We have always looked down on Western consumerist cultures. We take pride in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, which emphasizes that karma (action) is life, and karma is everything. But is this what our karma has become—spending over a trillion hours on mobile phones?

This is the irony of modern consumption, where consumption itself has become everything—consumption of data. Every month, an average Indian consumes 27.5 GB of data.

We have always considered water as life, yet we waste it mindlessly. Have we ever realized how much water data consumes? Just know this—Google’s data centers alone used 1.7 billion liters of water in a year. And there are countless other data centers. These centers require enormous amounts of water for cooling their machines.

Take a recent example—the craze for generating Ghibli-style photos using AI tools like ChatGPT. The processors in AI machines are overheating due to the massive demand. Have we ever considered how our entertainment is taking a toll on nature?

Youth of a “Young Nation”

We take pride in being a young nation. But what are the youth doing? Watching reels, playing games, binge-watching movies, and using betting apps? We keep saying that smartphones are ruining our generation, that the youth are being wasted, that society is falling apart, and that people have forgotten how to talk to each other. The list of complaints against smartphones is endless.

Ironically, the same people who complain are the ones drowning in their devices. Even you—after talking to someone for a while—would instinctively check your phone. Just look around. Every second or third person is staring into their device—whether they are walking, sitting, lying down, traveling, relaxing, at parks, parties, or even funerals. Nothing about this is surprising anymore.

Illusion of Entertainment

The EY report also highlights that a huge chunk of these trillion hours was spent on entertainment. Indians are fully immersed in entertainment, but our minds do not reflect this joy. Our faces remain dull and lifeless. Comedy angers people instead of making them laugh. A genuinely happy or laughing person is seen as either insane or suspicious.

Cursing and fighting seem to be the only emotions on display. We consume unlimited entertainment, yet our happiness index remains one of the lowest in the world. We just can’t seem to rise above. What an irony!

Dark Side of Internet Consumption

The internet is an endless source of knowledge and information. But what are we really learning? Instead of acquiring education, skills, languages, or ideas, we are mastering scam tactics, spreading hate, falling for misinformation, or drowning in the addictive drug of entertainment.

Meanwhile, entertainment and gaming companies are getting richer. While we waste 1.1 trillion hours and burn through our mobile data, these companies made ₹2.5 lakh crore in 2024—surpassing TV companies. We buy data, but someone else makes money off it. What a rip-off, that too by us only!

Mobile Usage in India

• Indians spent an average of 5 hours daily on phones in 2024.

• 70% of this time was spent on social media, videos, and gaming.

• Around 40% of India’s population (562 million people) now use smartphones.

• 40% of all internet users in India are from rural areas.

• India has over 1 billion mobile users, out of which 900 million use data.

• India has 462 million+ social media users, with 400 million being adults.

• There are 1.12 billion active mobile connections in India, covering 78% of the population.

• The average monthly data consumption per person in India is 27.5 GB.

As the world’s most populous country, we unsurprisingly lead in numbers. Unfortunately, we don’t lead in GDP per capita or income levels. Our numbers are growing in all the wrong areas. Other nations might have similar mobile usage, but why should we compare ourselves to them? We need to fix our own house first.

Technology is a wonderful thing, and we can’t ignore it. But how we use it matters the most. What’s damaged is gone forever. The least we can do is prevent further damage.

Will we think about it and take action? Or will we just wait for next year’s report and regret again?

(The author is a journalist.)