A smart approach

Mother seeks to make digital revolution one that improves, rather than hinders, the inquisitive nature of children, Fang Aiqing reports.

It's a dilemma facing today's parents that generally their own did not. Such has been the advance of the electronic or digital age that parents today are dealing with a situation that is unique to them: How to let your child enjoy and benefit from such devices without them overtaking their lives.

Bianca Chen may have a solution. She used to keep her 4-year-old son from using electronic devices like smartphones and tablets to safeguard his health and to let him explore other options. She is among the many anxious parents seeking to discover an appropriate relationship between their kids and electronic devices in a digital world.

Chen, 36, then produced a documentary entitled Hello, Future, discussing ways of reinventing our education system into one that effectively guides children on their journey to becoming digital citizens capable of facing an unpredictable future.

Chen and her friends, including Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novelist Hao Jingfang, visited several schools in China, the United States, Britain, Israel and Kenya that have either championed pioneering ideas or taken experimental moves to make education more adaptable, equal and accessible with the help of technology.

The inspiration and experiences they've acquired on their journey are largely presented in the five-episode documentary that is now available on Tencent's video platform.

"Working on the documentary, we want to pose such questions as how people's attitude toward education has changed, and how to relieve modern parents from anxiety," says Zhang Liyi, in charge of Lichun Studio attached to Tencent News, one of the production teams.