At around 7.30 every evening, Sumita Datta unlocks her front door in Tollygunge to the same familiar sight everyday. The television blasts Cocomelon in one corner, where her five-year-old daughter sits cross-legged with a colouring book that is more largely ignored. From the kitchen, comes the sharper sound of a phone playing a Bengali TV serial at full volume.
Her 61-year-old widowed mother-in-law moves between the stove and the counter, the phone resting against a steel container, eyes flicking back to the screen between stirring cha.
“The phone has become her only companion. She stopped going out for walks because she doesn’t want to miss her serial. She even disconnects calls if an episode is on,” Datta said.
For years, screen addiction has been framed as a problem of the young. But in many homes, it is the elderly who now spend long hours on their phones. The shift goes unnoticed, but days are taken over by phone screens. It is no longer about bhaat ghum or evening walks.
Dyuti Banerjee, who now lives in the US, remembers how her mother’s messages slowly changed.
“My WhatsApp chat with her is an endless stream of motivational reels and YouTube videos. She might miss an important text, but the forwarded ‘gyaan’ is always on time,” she said. Her parents live together in Kolkata’s Behala area. Although they live under the same roof, their content consumption is different.
Her father, Dyuti added, has his own routine. The phone rests on the arm of his chair, volume turned all the way up. “We ended up listening to astrology updates, old film trivia or random comedy clips whether we want to or not,” she said.
The details are small, but telling.
Mobiles tucked under pillows at night, chargers permanently plugged in beside beds, meals eaten with one hand while the other scrolls, conversations interrupted midway for a “just watch this” video and phones running out of space as their peers flood WhatsApp with video forwards.
Some recognise the pattern by themselves. Amrita Ghosh, 62, from Ballygunge, says it crept up on her. “I am guilty. I realised that. I took to gardening, and now my Instagram is full of my balcony garden pictures!”
Others are still trying to make sense of it.
“My mother spends entire nights on her phone. Then she wakes up late and continues with calls and messages. She doesn’t realise how much it’s affecting her routine,” said Debjani Chatterjee Alam.
Some recognise the pattern by themselves, while others are still trying to make sense of it Shutterstock
For many seniors, the phone fills a space that opened slowly over the years. Chaya Bose, 71, who lives in Shyambazar, traces it back to a quieter home.
“After my husband passed away, television kept me company. Now the phone is easier. I can watch anything, anytime, anywhere,” she said. Spondylitis made her give up on reading and knee ache made her quit walking. With no children and only a domestic help to look after her, the phone is the only companion that keeps her connected to relatives afar and the world beyond her century-old home. Phone addicts with family are facing the same urban loneliness. With grandchildren away at school and tuition, children away for hours at work, senior citizens have found comfort in a six-inch screen.
However, some families are choosing to adapt rather than restrict.
Shreya Das says she sits with her mother in the evenings, turning screen time into shared time. “We watch shows together, laugh at the same things. It feels less isolating that way.”
Mental health experts say these habits are often rooted in loneliness and lack of structure. Padmakali Kar, a visiting psychiatrist at Peerless Hospital, explains that while moderate phone use can be beneficial, overuse can take a deeper toll on older adults.
“It can affect attention, memory and sleep. Many seniors use their phones late into the night, which disrupts rest,” she said. Physical discomfort, from eye strain to reduced movement, often follows.
There is also another consequence. “Phones can replace real interaction. That leads to a kind of isolation even when they are constantly connected,” she explained.
Her advice is to gently reshape the day. A morning walk that becomes routine, a fixed tea-time chat without screens. Simple activities like reading, gardening or even helping grandchildren with homework. “The goal is not to take the phone away. It is to make sure it is not the only thing they turn to.”