The first of the four panel discussions within the campaign dubbed “The Children’s World Is Bigger than the Screen” was held in Belgrade over more than a thousand people. The campaign launched by Telekom Srbija is dedicated to raising awareness of the public about the influence of the early excessive use of digital devices on children in the early stages of their development.
Telekom Srbija CEO Vladimir Lučić said on this occasion that this was one of the most current topics in the world and that Telekom Srbija as the largest operator in our country should be the initiator of such an important initiative.
“We have two strategic plans, one is to have several campaigns dedicated to children every year, and the other is to raise awareness on the right use of technologies. We should not be afraid of the new digital technologies, but we should educate ourselves and understand properly how they are used in the manner that facilitates our everyday business and private obligations”, said Lučić.
The head of the Department for Neurosciences in Upbringing and Education at the Pedagogical Faculty in Koper, Ranko Rajović was one of the lecturers at the panel discussion, who said on this occasion that over the last ten years he had noticed a trend that every new generation was worse than the previous one, which led to the need to find the cause of such situation.
“Children have weaker motoric skills, they have less attention and concentration, their emotional control is almost non-existent, their vocabulary is poorer. This happens because the children who are excessively exposed to the virtual world experience a delay in speech development, as well as in various other aspects of development. The environment has changed, everything has changed, that is why parents have to educate themselves, along with the educators, teachers and all those who are part of the educational system”, said Rajović.
Master speech therapist Marijana Mirković from the Institute for Psychophysiological Disorders and Speech Pathology “Prof. dr Cvetko Brajović” said that children should spend as little time as possible in front of the screen, because it does not encourage early development, while assistant professor dr Bojana Drljan from the Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation said that children up to one year should not be exposed to screens at all, while children between two and five years of age should not be exposed to screens more than half an hour to one hour per day.
The aim of the campaign “The Children’s World Is Bigger than the Screen” is to provide an additional space for expert opinion on this topic and provide support to parents and the public regarding the importance of balanced use of screens and digital devices in the early development of children.
Apart from the panel discussion held at the Sava Centre, the largest congress, cultural and business centre in Serbia, panel discussions will also be held in Novi Sad on 26 May, 8 June in Kragujevac and on 15 June 2024 in Niš. Attendance at all panel discussions within the campaign is free of charge with prior registration.
The launching of this campaign, as well as the topics that provide responses to global and local challenges of modern society and establishing trends in the sphere of socially responsible behaviour is one of the permanent strategic commitments of Telekom Srbija.
