This piece, published on the Janastu Blog, is about a project in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, working with young women to reorient everyday smart devices toward their own storytelling and making.
The article grapples with a persistent tension: while smart devices are increasingly common, the effort required to access, learn, and reconfigure digital tools often outweighs their versatility for communities whose primary modes are oral and visual. Content-making and consumption are constrained not just by physical access but by language, literacy levels, expertise, context, and culture. The piece reflects on how we tried to navigate these constraints.