Social Media Ban Cuts Off Elderly Parents From Children Abroad

Kathmandu: For 65-year-old retired teacher Karna Bahadur Shahi from Kalikot, Facebook Messenger was more than an app, it was his only lifeline to his relatives. Living alone in his village, he spoke to his younger son in Kathmandu and his elder son in the UK every morning and evening, seeing their faces on screen.

Now, with Messenger suddenly shut down, he feels stranded. “Messenger was the only way to connect with all my relatives,” he said. “Now that it’s closed, I’ve lost contact with everyone.” He added that it is impossible to call abroad from his SIM card and difficult even to reach his son in Kathmandu. “I was used to seeing his face while talking. Now,it is not same.”

Jamuna Khanal, 49, from Bardiya, shares the same struggle. She was in daily contact with two sons in Korea and a daughter in Kathmandu, unaware that social media had been blocked. “Yesterday, the internet stopped working,” she said. “Later, my daughter told me to open Viber. I don’t know how to open it. Now I’ve come to the mobile shop.”

A senior employee of an internet company in Kathmandu recalled being scolded by his parents after social media stopped working. “I was busy with work and gave them no information. Two days later, when I called their SIM, they shouted at me. They didn’t know how to dial numbers, and no one in the neighborhood could help.” He eventually sent a relative from afar to install Viber, finally restoring communication.

A Reddit user shared a similar fear: “I couldn’t reach my parents for a while, and it was terrifying.” His parents, elderly and not tech-savvy, struggled to understand VPN instructions over the phone. “They don’t even know how to install apps. I used to set everything when I visited home. Now I don’t know what to do,” he wrote. Later, he was relieved that his parents, living near the India-Nepal border, managed to use WhatsApp once. He also prayed for other elderly people just beginning to adapt to the digital world.

Shiva Khanal, who runs a mobile shop in Thakur Baba, Bardiya, is overwhelmed with requests. From changing DNS to installing VPNs and setting up Viber, his shop has been crowded since Thursday, and by Sunday, the numbers had swelled. “Elderly people are used to calling their children through Messenger video,” Khanal said. “I installed Viber for some, changed DNS for Messenger users. But now that too is blocked.”

Social media had become a daily necessity for many, keeping in touch with children abroad, comforting sick relatives, and maintaining family bonds. But the ban has cut off countless families. “How can we even remember everyone’s number?” one user asked. “We were used to calling by looking at profiles. Grandparents make video calls out of habit. Now, which number do we dial?”

In this context, a TikTok video has gone viral. An elderly woman cries angrily: “Hey government, if I can’t talk to my children tomorrow, I’ll come to Singha Durbar. I’ll go crazy if you close Facebook. I’ll cut them off!” She adds, “We will travel across Nepal with the government’s head.” The woman’s identity remains unknown as most uploads of the video have removed the watermark.

The ban has not only crippled communication but also disrupted daily life. Elderly people who once passed their time scrolling Facebook or watching YouTube are now left adrift. “My mom doesn’t have any of her friends’ or relatives’ numbers, only their Messenger profiles,” another Reddit user wrote. “She’s really confused. My parents are angry Facebook was shut down.”

Mobile entrepreneur Khanal described the darker impact: “Old people used to exercise in the morning by watching YouTube, read books online, listen to hymns, or show cartoons to children. Education, entertainment, even learning had become dependent on YouTube. Now everything has stopped.”

The shutdown of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, and imo has hit millions of Nepalis who had only recently gained internet access. Many don’t even know that blocked apps can still be accessed with DNS changes or VPNs. Some service providers have disabled DNS changes altogether. For those unfamiliar with such workarounds, communication has collapsed, information flow has been cut off, and daily life has become even harder.

 

पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: भदौ २३, २०८२ १५:५

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