Pune Book Festival: Writer raises concern over rising smartphone dependence among kids
Marathi writer Vishwas Patil warns against children's smartphone dependence, emphasizing books' importance for knowledge at the Pune Book Festival.
Noted Marathi writer and Sahitya Akademi award recipient Vishwas Patil on Saturday voiced concern over the growing dependence on smartphones, particularly among children, and stressed that books remain indispensable for gaining deep and enduring knowledge.
Addressing the audience at the inauguration of the Pune Book Festival, Patil said an average Indian now spends close to six hours daily on mobile phones, describing it as an alarming pattern that erodes reading habits and reduces meaningful intellectual engagement. “Books are lifelong companions. When it comes to acquiring authentic and the best form of knowledge, there is no replacement for books,” he said, adding that reading plays a vital role in leading a purposeful and enriching life.
Highlighting grassroots initiatives aimed at correcting this trend, Patil said some gram panchayats in Sangli district have decided to limit children’s mobile phone usage between 7 pm and 11 pm to promote reading and study.
Rajesh Pande, convenor, Pune Book Festival, said the strong turnout at the inaugural ceremony reflected a growing interest in reading across age groups. He said the response from Punekars indicated a steady revival of reading culture in the city.
Meanwhile, Pune set a world record on Saturday in the category of the “largest display of posters”. “India has overtaken the United States to claim the record for the longest poster display,” said Swapnil Dangrikar, adjudicator, Guinness World Records.
According to the organisers, the record was created at the book festival hosted at Fergusson College with an exhibition of 1,678 posters featuring tribal words, surpassing the earlier record of 1,365 posters set in the US in February 2025. The Guinness certificate states that the record was jointly achieved by the Pune Book Festival, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University and the RISE Foundation in Pune on December 12.
Organisers said the initiative was dedicated to tribal leader and freedom fighter Bhagwan Birsa Munda, whose life and contributions are being showcased through a special pavilion at the festival.
The Pune Book Festival, organised by the National Book Trust, is being held from December 13 to 21. Festival convenor Rajesh Pande said a dedicated Birsa Munda gallery has been curated to honour his role in tribal society and India’s freedom movement, and the world record was created as part of this effort by displaying posters featuring tribal vocabulary.
Social activist and Padma Shri awardee Girish Prabhune said Munda’s contribution was multi-dimensional and underscored the need to preserve endangered dialects. He said that documenting tribal languages in the Devanagari script could help spread the knowledge embedded in these languages to a wider audience.
