Shaping childhood in the right way

Eminent achievers call for structured tech use

Hyderabad: The FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), a division of the Federartion of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) conducted a panel discussion on ‘Guiding Childhood in the World of SMAC’ (Social, Media, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) here on Wednesday.

The panelists came from the who’s who and comprised of Edward Rogers, (Chief Knowledge Officer NASA); Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant (Classical Dancer); Gustav J Gropp (Principal Oakridge International School, Newton Campus); Parminder Gill (Co-Founder Edu Sports) while it was moderated by Deepak Agarwal (Associate Director, Learning and Development, ISB).

It threw light on the challenges a child faces today in the midst of technology and assisting children to make it relevant for them to be able to manage a future that is undergoing changes every other month.

Most of the participants apprehended that children were in danger of forgetting their creative instincts. To address this pragmatically, and more effectively, the atmosphere at school and home must ensure a holistic development of the child, who should imbibe a positive view of life.

SMAC is a concept that blends the present predominant four technologies that are driving innovations everywhere. These technologies have risen so fast and they have a huge impact on the society, especially children.

Social Media strategy has become a must for all. Over one billion individuals logged on to various social networks. Kids are also using these networks for various reasons. With technology evolving constantly, the access to these networks is becoming simpler by the day. Cloud computing is fostering innovations in every sphere, the panelists concurred.

These days all these technologies are easily available and children tend to get attracted to these new innovations easily. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to make them aware of the positives and negatives of the technologies.

Group strongly felt that every tool can be used to teach better and all depended on how the teachers passed on the knowledge. "It is ideal to let the children be themselves. However, parents and teachers need to address their academic and social growth. Social media is more accessible and with every tool we can teach the kids," Gustav said.

"I was in elementary school in 1969 and a man went to moon. That was an amazing period for us. Children then used to wear snorkels, which represented astronaut’s helmet and used to walk like they are walking on the moon," Rogers said.

These days, kids are mostly hooked on to television, computer and tablets. Even kids as young as five or six years old are glued to television sets. Parents should use proper filters and make a balance and let children watch innovative programmes along with cartoons.

Parminder rued the fact that playgrounds are disappearing even though sports give an opportunity to develop kinship, provide a sense of belonging and bonding. He felt that social media can do a lot for children, particularly on the inspirational front.

"I think technology is not a bad thing. And I think kids should embrace technology. Play time should be included. When I say play time I don't mean playing on sports. Parents can play with children and it will help them a lot," Parminder shared.

Ananda Shankar opined that Facebook could be intrusive if used judiciously. Technology, she felt, may enable ‘cloning’ of an art but will not allow transfer, which includes the entire experience of the art. Technology could help in practicing the methodology.