N. Raghuraman's column: Be disciplined or spend more on bad habits, your decision is yours.

At 4 a.m. on Monday, I left my building for my regular milkman flight (Al Samabh). The watchman of the building—who is always asleep and has to be awakened to open the inner gate of the wing—was on the alert today. He also said good morning to me. I was surprised. On the way to the airport, I asked the driver why he looked so happy today, had he been warned by the security supervisor? The driver smiled and said, "No sir, he has stopped watching movies on mobile." This answer took me back to a flashback to 2016, when a mobile company promoted what I call digital socialism while making the internet virtually free. The watchmen of these co-operative societies gradually started watching movies using the free internet. Then it became his addiction. Even though his salary was Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000, he bought smartphones on EMIs — which were many times more expensive than his salary — as he was accustomed to free internet and watching movies. Unknowingly, he assumed that watching movies would keep him awake at night. Gradually, this perception became the oxygen to keep his job. Now let's come to 2025. When something becomes oxygen, companies raise the prices of that product. The favourite drug of the people of India—I mean data—recently became a bit expensive. But such a price hike does not reduce the demand for the product, because it falls under the category of oxygen. In fact, he becomes ambitious. These watchmen can even leave their morning tea or vada pav to stay frozen on mobile. Some may take pride in saying that I have enough data and I pay for premium services. This is like those smokers whose cigarettes are going to be charged the highest slab of 40% under the revised GST. Some estimates suggest that the current packet of 20 cigarettes which is priced at Rs 340 may go up to Rs 380 from September 22. That is, a person who drinks one packet in a day will have to spend 40 rupees daily and 1200 rupees in a month. For some salaried people who smoke standing outside the office, it will be 15 to 20% of the income, as the cost of smoking will reach Rs 11400. If two people in the family smoke, then the whole family together gives 35-40% of their earnings to tobacco companies. Cigarette addiction and data usage are the same thing. It's going to be very difficult for many people to give up both habits. In the last nine years, free and cheap data has re-wired us. We no longer strain our minds about directions. We don't ask anyone, "Brother, where is this colony?" We don't open the dictionary to look up spellings. Some sites tell this on one click. Housewives stopped experimenting with their culinary arts. They are always looking at a chef's recipe on mobile. For college children, mobile has become a part of the body, which they also carry to the toilet. In short, the human body's memory disc is dusting our mid-brain. Because searching has become our trend and thinking has become optional. So what is the future? First they will get used to it. If you are using and paying for the product, you will be a perfect user. But, most of us cross that line and become addicts. Movies binge-watch and gradually fall prey to addiction like smoking. The trick is to either be disciplined like the aforementioned watchman or keep paying a premium for the same product, because you feel that you have achieved a great position in the society. The choice is yours.