Forum: Rooting for human creativity in new age of communication
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Education Minister Chan Chun Sing’s call for adults to maintain their literacy through regular reading after leaving school is timely and far-sighted (Reading beyond school years vital for preventing decline in literacy skills: Chan Chun Sing, Jan 8).
The Ministry of Health’s recent restriction of screen time for lower primary pupils is also timely (No devices for kids at meals and turn off the TV: Singapore issues stricter screen use guidelines, Jan 21). Hopefully, this will result in more time spent on reading.
My grandchildren will grow up communicating in even shorter messages and more expressive emoticons, and viewing images and video clips on their smartphones, tablets and personal computers. Will such habits lead to the loss of good writing skills?
With the ease in using digital devices and apps, will they still need to come up with ideas with original thinking and writing? No doubt, what they will hold in their hands in time to come will be multimedia and much more exciting and engaging.
AI-enabled tools like ChatGPT enable them to find information at their fingertips. Will they still need to attend university to acquire knowledge first-hand by attending lessons in classroom, reading publications and researching online?
When my grandchildren grow up, will they have sufficient literacy proficiency to understand and appreciate the AI-generated information gathered from current sources that are published in traditional style and complex forms of writing?
What about critical thinking skills to discern and differentiate fact from fiction, observation from opinion, truth from falsehood, and insight from propaganda?
Already, my grandchildren are finding printed publications to be less interesting than digital media. During their lifetime, will the beauty and power of the written language be lost on them?
If my sense is right, the dearth or death of artful communications of past generations is well-nigh near. Long live human creativity and ingenuity in the new age.
Joachim Sim Khim Huang
