MANGALURU: For most individuals, life in the present revolves around

. But, with the imposition of curfew for two days and suspension of mobile

, most Mangalurueans were forced to stay at home. Many used this time to read and interact with neighbours and depended on television for updates on the

in Mangaluru. The moment internet was restored on Saturday night, memes on how Mangalureans spent their time without mobile internet emerged.

Today, mobile data is the primary source of internet and content consumption. Many people do not go in for a secondary broadband connection these days since mobile data is good enough. “My colleagues could not travel to the office due to curfew and be online because of mobile data being unavailable. However, we understand this was done considering the safety of the city, so we managed,” said Dikshith Rai, founder and CEO, CodeCraft Technologies.

“Two days without mobile internet was quite a peaceful experience. I got to catch up on sleep that was affected due to social media use. It also

the hate and nonsense that was circulating in the name of equality and what not! Today, no one wants to read and properly comprehend what is posted on social media. The two-day mobile internet ban actually helped in maintaining peace in the city. People also realised no matter how urgent it is, work can wait and the world will not come to an end,” said Arunitha Kundu, a reservation assistant at a hotel in the city.

Rajesh Srinivas Rao, who is in a senior management role in the IT industry, said withdrawal of mobile internet services is done with the purpose of restoring peace. All hell will not break loose if there is no internet for two days, especially when a lot on misrepresentation is happening over the internet.

“I was always curious what it will be like without the internet. I would say that it was peaceful, as I got to spend a lot of quality time with my family. I did not miss having internet connectivity, as those who wanted to stay connected called me and sent me text messages. Having no internet also gave rumour mongers no room to instigate or misinform people. This also helped in restoring normalcy early in the district. Moreover, the work assignments I had in the past two days were done with the help of text messaging, calls and also through e-mails, as the WiFi was working,” said Sushma B, centre head at Skill Development Centre in Mangaluru.