(MENAFNEditorial) Technology, Values and Writing for Children all came under the spotlight a panel discussion held yesterday at the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival.
Voicing her concerns about the changing face of childhood, Egyptian novelist and storyteller Safaa Abdel Menem said that there was a time when the family and school played an important role in how the child is raised. "Now, the child raises himself. The family needs to step up and teach the child customs and traditions," she said. She added that she tells children to try and find beauty everywhere – in a toy, on the road, in good behavior.
Speaking about her writing, award-winning UK author Laura Dockrill said that a lot of her writing is based on memories. "Children aged 9 to 11 (the category I'm writing for) tend to lose a lot of confidence. They need to be made to feel important. Writers need to address them in a manner that's not patronizing and that gives them confidence," said Dockrill who's debut book was Darcy Burdock.
Al Aid Jaluli, professor of higher education at the Faculty of the Arts and Languages at University of Ouargla in Algeria voice his concerns about technology. "We are today facing a great challenge – our children have perfected the international language of technology so how do we instill in them our culture and tradition?" he said.
With a sense of nostalgia, US Children's Book Author Stephen Messer (author of adventure book Windblowne) spoke fondly about the freedom he had as a child and how children today will never experience that. "As a child I went out by myself and had my own adventures. Life in the 70s and early 80s was really different. Nowadays children can't do much without supervision. It bothers me that because of safety kids today can't do things independently with no supervision."
He said that while he's concerned about what the future worlds looks like, he tries, in his books, to get the idea into kids minds that you can fail but what's important is to take risks. "Literature is a way to keep that alive for kids... that's why I do what I do," said Messer.
Speaking about the magnetism of technology and social media, Safaa, said that today is a world of isolation. "Children are in a virtual world where they use a language that's different from what we use in the real world. Where are parents?" she asked.
The problem with social media, according to Laura, is that there is no "downtime". "Bullying for instance doesn't stop at school" it can continue to late at night." She also said that unfortunately, creativity is being sucked out of school's curriculum.
Agreeing with her Stephen said that the problem is the increasing dominance of standardized testing. "Countries compete to be the best in science and math. The arts however are given less space in school because they can't be tested," he said.
When it comes to new technology, Stephen says that the process is frightening. "They're almost guinea pigs for new technology and this technology is just changing the way the brain works. They're losing a lot of ability to concentrate and understand what the books are saying," he said.
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