I check mails, access news on the go, log on to social media:Modi

New Delhi

“Like any common person, I scan my mails and try to be as regular in correspondence (by my own standards I am still slow). Technology makes access to information a lot faster. I am able to access news on the go. I may be travelling in the hills, in the Northeast of in interior Chhattisgarh but thanks to technology I am abreast with what is happening,” Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said today during Digital Dialogue interaction in reply to a question asked by BG Mahesh.

When asked, “what is your tech routine. In what ways in technology a part of your life?” Modi replied, “this is a question many people ask me when I meet them. They ask me about technology, what mobile phone I use, how often I check my mail.”

On social media he said, “my being on social media has enriched me in many ways. After a long day at work, I log on to social media and it is very very refreshing. I am active on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram. It gives me a pulse of what people think. I get a lot of feedback. For example, someone tweeted to me that during one of the speeches I spoke too fast. It acts as a mirror for all of us in our otherwise very busy lives.

“I am a firm believer in the use of social media. It has given voice to the common man. This is an empowering platform and it should be used as positively and creatively as possible. That is when you will understand the power of that medium and you will be able to make a difference,” he said.

He also said, ““the future belongs to social media. It is egalitarian and inclusive. Social media is not about any country, any language, any colour, any community but it is about human values and that is the underlying link binding humanity.”

Pointing out the vast reach of mobile, Shri Modi shared a story, “I want to share a small story. As CM, I went to a tribal area of Kaprada in Valsad district for inaugurating a chilling centre in a dairy. Since there was less space to conduct a meeting at the centre itself, the programme was held 3 km away on a school’s ground. Some 30-40 tribal women, who collect milk, were present at the venue. While returning from the venue after the function, I saw nearly three-fourth of the women clicking photos from their mobiles. I asked, “What will you do after clicking these photos from your mobile phones?” They said we will get the photographs transferred to a computer and later get the printouts. These are women who never attended school or college where they could learn what to do with photographs clicked with a mobile. But they know that the photo can be transferred to a computer and later be collected in the form of a printout from the computer. I was amazed. This is how technology has reached out to people on its own even at the margins.”

DeshGujarat