Abstract

According to the American Academy of Paediatrics, over 50% of American children between the ages of 8 and 18 years spend more than eight to ten hours a day watching TV and using electronic gadgets like smartphones, tablets, and computers. According to a recent study, up to 60% of children between the ages of 10 and 16 use digital devices during dinner or before going to bed at night. Such behaviour leads to various physical and mental constrains, which result in early signs of anxiety, mental illness and psychological dependancy to such devices. Digital literacy at a young age is very important because it will enable children to prioritise their screen time and digital time. This problem is caused by the fact that many schools have started to impose strict limits on the amount of time that students can spend on homework and electronic devices at home. This is causing many students to develop negative habits such as binge-watching TV and playing video games for hours at a time without any parental supervision. Research has shown that excessive screen time can have a serious negative impact on students’ physical and mental health and lead to behavioural problems and emotional problems such as anxiety and depression. It is by and large true in developed and developing countries. To prevent this, can there be a better alternative? Can ‘participatory culture’ be an alternative for the digital generation? One such participatory digital platform for storytelling, writing, and visualising could be ‘Pottermore’, an online game.

Key words: Digital education, VLE, Pottermore, Digital literacy, Narrative.