A new term called Digital Fasting is being observed in Madhya Pradesh. During the auspicious occasion of Paryushan Parva, Jains in MP are keeping themselves away from phones and the internet for 24 hours. As part of 'Digital Fasting', around 1,000 members of the community deposited their smartphones for 24 hours at a temple in Begumganj town, some 120 km from the state capital, on Wednesday morning, a local community leader said.
Paryushan Parva is one of the major festivals celebrated by the Jain community annually for self-purification, introspection and spiritual development. People of the Jain community expressed their views on this fasting. Akshay Jain a councillor and a prominent leader from the community shared with PTI, “People have become addicted to the internet and use smartphones and other gadgets for a long time everyday, “An initiative of digital fasting or fasting without the internet was started so that people can stay away from this addiction. People switched off their phones and left them at the temple for 24 hours for this fasting,”
He further added, “We are keeping away from all modes of the internet including phones, laptops, computers. We have to sacrifice some of the favourite things during the ongoing fasting of Paryushan Parva. So we decided to renounce the internet for 24 hours"."This kind of initiative may possibly continue in future as well", he added.
The members of the community participate in the festival by fasting and performing pujas and other religious rituals. Amid the increasing use of smartphones in society, keeping away from the gadgets and internet is a very unique initiative to keep our mental and physical health healthy.
The addiction of phones and the internet is really taking a peak these days. Not only kids but even adults invest most of their time on their phones.
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