The New Love of India's Slum: Mobile Internet!

Bangalore: The low income youth have taken enthusiastically to the mobile internet. Internet is viewed not simply as a resource to be acted upon but one with consequences for everyday behaviors. A recent survey by Microsoft Research India revealed that Mobile internet is used for entertainment by teenagers in a slum in Hyderabad.

The survey captured the rich experience of technology in the everyday life of poor urban youth. It also brought to fore, if certain needs, like good health, education and stable employment are more fundamental than other needs, such as social interaction, entertainment or religion for positive development impact.

The survey was conducted among 20 randomly selected teenagers living in Hafeezpet in Hyderabad between the ages of 15-19. Hafeezpet was chosen for the survey for two reasons: one, as it fits to a typical unauthorized and informal urban settlement referred to as slums; second, due to its proximity to the vast public infrastructures in the IT hub of Hyderabad, a growing global IT city of India.

As the mobile internet infused into Hafeezpet through teen adoption and as more joined the hub of users, it transformed into a viral obsessive activity. Indeed, the presence of hubs in street corners and mobile stores throughout the neighborhood that made it clear that the internet is not only a mobile but an interactional social platform.