In this era of AI and classrooms filled with students glued to their cellphones, there is a need to focus on redirecting, but not eliminating, the distraction. While there is no doubt that we need to go back to the older ways of teaching such as taking oral viva exams, practicing ‘sthithprajana’ (steady wisdom) etc, there is also a dire need to make alliance with technology.

In this article, we will list out a few such techniques aligned with ancient wisdom which may aid in helping to incorporate technology in classroom:

1.    Start the class with two-minute digital silence 
2.    Engage with digital tools meaningfully rather than mindlessly
3.    Maintain your authority calmly, redirect your attention with engagement via questions
4.    Wisdom-driven discipline

Let us identify the root cause behind the habit of distractions due to mobile phone in hand. As we all aim to attain the state described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as ‘Flow’ or increase focus in our way of working, it is imperative to prioritise what matters most to students. Though it seems difficult in the first instance, one can start with identifying what moves the students into the state of flow. The answer we got from our own journey is that every individual has a unique childhood trait which he/she carries forward even in the adult way of working. For one of us, it is simply taking notes, for someone else it can be doodling, for other it can be listening without writing and so on. Once we identify the activity which lends the force to stay focused, we can tell the students to engage in it more often. In fact, the eastern and western – both philosophies – focus on becoming happy within. Once the student strikes this way of attaining state of flow, he/she will be automatically tempted to indulge in the same time and again. Instead of silence of words, in today’s world it can be “Digital Silence”; instead of fasting on food items, it can be “Digital Fasting” in today’s era. 

In the end, the goal is not to fight the phone but to cultivate the discipline to use it wisely. Classrooms have always been spaces of negotiation — between silence and speech, freedom and restraint, tradition and change. The mobile phone is simply the newest participant in that dialogue. If teachers frame it as an enemy, students will cling to it even more. If instead they frame it as a partner in the learning process, students begin to see their devices differently.

This doesn’t mean giving phones unlimited freedom. It means creating rituals and boundaries that carry meaning. Just as we once fasted from food to train the mind, we can now fast digitally to reclaim our focus. Just as earlier generations practiced restraint in speech, today’s students can practise restraint in notifications. Even something as simple as putting the phone face down on the desk during a discussion can become a small vow towards presence and attention. 

Teachers, too, play a central role. A calm authority that blends firmness with curiosity goes much further than outright bans. Asking questions, inviting reflections and directing students’ energy towards interactive uses of technology can change the phone from a toy into a tool. Apps for real-time polls, collaborative note-making, or even mindfulness practices can enhance the class instead of depleting it.

At its heart, this is not only about mobiles in classrooms. It is about preparing young people for a world where distractions will always exist. If schools can show how to live with technology by practising pauses, choosing focus and finding joy in flow, then they are doing more than teaching subjects. They are teaching a way of life.

The classroom of tomorrow will not be one where phones are confiscated at the door, nor one where they dominate unchecked. It will be a place where ancient practices of discipline meet modern tools of learning. A place where silence can be digital, fasting can be technological and wisdom can still be steady. And in that balance lies the real promise of education in our times.

Chehak Jain is intern at Pahle india Foundation. Dr Palakh Jain, Associate Professor, Bennett University and Senior Visiting Fellow, Pahle India Foundation. 
Views are personal and not of the organisation(s) of authors.