Can we go for Internet Fasting”?

Dr Sanjay M Johri

Dec 28, 2019

Fasting is always said to be a great thing to maintain good health as you give rest to your biological system. Even fasting during nine days of Navratra by Hindus or for a month long Ramzaan by Muslims though both because of religious belief provide a kind of detoxification to your body. Basically it is good to get away from your routine and do things differently. An idea just struck to me today “Can we go for Internet Fasting”? The way people in the country in general faced repeated “Internet shutdown” following CAA -NRC-NPR protest and deteriorating Law and Order situation literally nationwide during the last week forced the authorities shutdown the internet in most of the places. Srinagar we know is already witnessing Internet shutdown for past Six months with no sign of relief & perhaps longest ever in any of the country globally. It is however a different story that Internet shutdown has brought digitally linked online operations to a halt affecting business in terms of crores of rupees and making people harassed for their day to day work in Modi’s Digital India. Leave it to government to decide if it can find ways to delink digital services so that business to the tune of crores does not get affected. It is important to mention that nation wide protest in Hongkong did not have any internet shutdown after IT industry there reacted fiercely to any such suggestion from the government. “Any such restrictions, however slight originally, would start the end of the open internet of Hong Kong, and would immediately and permanently deter international businesses from positing their businesses and investments in Hong Kong,” Such restrictions, which would cost the society huge business opportunities and social costs, would not deter nor stop determined users from accessing their desired services. Are we looking to “ruin our economy, social fabrics and our core values of freedom and free flow of information,” a top politician there is stated to have warned the government. Let’s hope Indian Police authorities and government in general look into these considerations though “mindless working” should not see any change as they are least bothered about such a ban in Kashmir valley till date. No doubt it is a fact practically every Indian is today immersed in his/her smartphones while commuting, at the office, engrossed in e-mails, doing searches online or on Instagram . At home, they may even feel uneasy if they are not connected to the Internet. Surely the kind of addiction to Social Media we all have these days Internet Fasting could be an answer to shift to some productive work hoping there will be Internet Shutdown if not for longer duration then on the eve of Friday Prayers or may be two days since Indian Police believes Internet will help rioters cause Law & Order problem. The nation-wide uncertainty we are likely to witness in time to come , it is better we adapt to newer situation fast and observe two days Internet Fasting in a week. It is better we develop habit of overcoming with our addiction to Social Media and devote time to do something creative. For sure no one knows “Fridays-Saturdays” Internet shutdown becomes a reality as weekly market closure. I found more and more people getting increasingly worried about their addiction to the Internet and for them “Internet fasting” by deliberately spending time offline seems a better option. There have been instances when people who were hooked up to internet for 12 hours a day experimented with Internet Fast for almost a month. They made it a rule to check e-mails only twice a day, organized face to face interaction with the other people. Interestingly such people have found more time, could concentrate better, and had a general feeling of well-being. I met a senior colleague of myself who had been addictive to social media but decided to take a break. “I found engaging myself with friends in person and sharing our experiences was more enjoyable. “Unlike those bits of information on the Internet, real-life experiences make us fully engage all five senses, and because of that, we could learn something from those experiences,” “In addition, we can never be content with ourselves as long as we are dependent on the approval of others. I now feel I’ve regained the power to take control of my life—a life that had previously been dominated by the Internet.” he said. About 5.20 Lakh children are believed to suffer from Internet addiction in a South East Asian Country. As an experiment this summer, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry there plans to offer “Internet fasting camps,” where young people commune with nature. “Children with little real-life experience can easily harbor illusions that the online world is all there is,” Higuchi said. “I hope children have experiences in the real world that touch their hearts and discover that there are many other choices in the world besides the Internet.” Some companies in Japan have made Internet fasting part of their operations. The company which manufactures and sells household items, removed personal computers from individual workers’ desks in addition, it minimized e-mail communications and instead increased the number of face-to-face meetings.