India, Oct. 17 -- A 14-year-old girl in Lalkuan (Uttarakhand) recently hit the headlines for committing suicide after her elder brother reprimanded her for excessive screen time. The headline took me instantly back to my own childhood, an era when a mobile phone belonged firmly to the realm of science fiction.

Back then, our household possessed a single black landline with a rotary dial, kept safely under lock and key in my grandfather's office. It was a privilege, not an extension of the hand. Making an outgoing call from it required the collective permission of all the members of our joint family.

Sharing was the bedrock of our domestic existence. In our home, love was rarely served as pure dessert. It was always tempered with firm di...