A second in a row panel discussion dubbed “Children’s World Is Bigger than the Screen”, organized by the Telekom Srbija company, was held at the Novi Sad Fair. Dr Ranko Rajović, the head of the Department for Neurosciences in Upbringing and Education at the Pedagogical Faculty in Koper, Marijana Mirković, the master speech therapist at the Institute for Psychophysiological Disorders and Speech Pathology “Prof. dr. Cvetko Brajović” and Bojana Drljan, the assistant doctor at the Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, took part in the discussion.
Telekom Srbija’s head of the PR Department, Marija Bošković, thanked the partners for the project and said that the company by its campaign “Children’s World Is Bigger than the Screen” wishes to increase people’s awareness of the importance of balanced use of modern technologies, primarily for children at the earliest age.
“What we can see is that this is a globally present concern and that societies throughout the world are trying to conduct various educational activities to make sure that children develop in a healthy way. Through the project dubbed “Children’s World Is Bigger than the Screen” we joined two of our strategic directions in socially responsible operations. The first is investment in youth and education, while the second is our attempt and appeal to react and call on people to use our services in a responsible way”, said Bošković.
Citing the example of videogames, dr Ranko Rajović said that parents do not understand that this is a big trap, because children feel bored when they leave the world of games. He said that based on conducted research it was established that children in the fourth grade spent three to five hours looking at the screen and that children’s cognitive abilities were lower which was noticeable in every new generation of children. He thanked Telekom Srbija for raising this issue because it opened up space where it is possible to hear expert opinion on this subject.
The master speech therapist Marijana Mirković pointed out the increase in the number of children with delays in their speech and language development. “One of the problems is that parents expose their children to screens very early and the children quickly become addicted. In this way, they miss the opportunity for spontaneous development in their own environment, and the parents sometimes fail to see that this can have significant consequences for their further development”, said Mirković.
Within the panel discussion, which was open to the public, the speakers addressed the topics related to which activities were recommended for children instead of small and big screens, and some of those they proposed were ball games, board games, and games that the children create independently or with their peers.
Commenting on the influence of screens on children’s development, assistant doctor Bojana Drljan said that there was a serious corpus of research showing that screens cause delays in speech and language development, not necessarily disorders, as well as similar cognitive abilities such as attention, memory, regulating emotions and conflict resolution.
The campaign “Children’s Screen Is Bigger than the Screen” was launched by Telekom Srbija, as a regional leader in the field of telecommunications and as a company that fosters responsibility towards the community in its operations. The next two panel discussions will be held in Kragujevac, on 8 June, and in Niš, on 15 June.
