'Develop apps that help encourage human interactions'

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sultan of Perak has urged innovators to develop applications that will help encourage human interactions.
"One suggestion is that we could develop apps that encourage us to switch off after sending a message rather than continue online, to help return us to the crucial face-to-face relationships on which our humanity is built," said Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah in his keynote address at the International Conference on Science for Peace here today.
Quoting a recent study, he said the younger generation who are growing up with text messaging and other digital means of communication actually seem to be losing their ability to hold face-to-face conversations.
"This undermines the development of their critical faculties, which are honed during the messy back and forth of real conversation and not in the carefully crafted but superficial online 'performances' that many youth now apparently prefer.
"It also affects their ability to develop empathy, as the emotional reactions of others are masked by the digital format of their communication," Sultan Nazrin said.
He also said that the potential of scientific and technological progress can be misused to generate further violence rather than to promote peace.
"If scientific and technological progress is to contribute to peace and development, it must be managed and directed far more effectively than at present," he said.