More than 100 children from the summer camp EuroCamp in Slavsk found out what the digital detox was as well as tested the unique mobile planetarium. They also got acquainted with the book by Andrii Tuzhykov called A Brief History of Technology: How to Understand One’s Own Gadget, which had just been published by Chorni Vivtsi Publishing House, and Summer in the DNA Length by Alina Shtefan, that is already loved by readers.

Iryna Nikolaichuk, Head of Department from IT company Lucky Labs as well as critic and publicist, held a lecture that presented children with an opportunity to know more about the history of information society development and lifehacks concerning the ways of surviving in this new modern world.

In the world of post truth and media illusions which is full of fake images and information of doubtful value it is extremely important to remember that technology is more of a mean rather than a goal. Children should learn things like the hygiene of information space, the digital detox and the critical perception of information at the very moment when they get their first gadgets. Teenagers should understand that the digital world idealized by them has toxic and dangerous side since life of modern teenager is closely connected with gadgets, Iryna explains.

The reviews of lecture attendants also confirm her words. Anna, 16 years old, says that she has never thought whether a smartphone and social networks influenced her.

Well, today I recalled all cases when my mood worsened only because of a bad comment or small amount of likes under the photo and understood that it is not that insignificant, she said.

A more technical topic drew the attention of children as well. The following issues were put on the discussion: whether robots will ever replace humans, and electronic books - the paper ones. Children were interested whether they should, when choosing their future career path, focus on those professions, which would not be replaced with machines in 20 years.

At the same time, the other group of teens got acquainted with the unique mobile planetarium by Tetiana Skorohod, the member of the LuckyBooks expert group and the astronomer. She showed the children the main constellations of the Northern Hemisphere in this planetarium and explained how one could him- or herself find them in the real starry sky.

I have already been to a planetarium where we were only showed a movie on the ceiling. But here it seems that you are looking at the real night sky. And when you are afterwards shown how to combine stars into a constellation you memorize it much more easily because everything looks so realistic. Moreover, I have never imagined that there was enough space for 14 persons in such a small tent!, says Denys, 13 years old.

It was such reviews that encouraged Tetiana Skorohod to write her own popular science book about the space for teenagers.

This trip reaffirmed again that children find it interesting to learn the scientific foundation of the starry sky. It is extremely desirable that the findings of modern astronomical science become available at any age, because strive for scientific discoveries may change someone’s destiny, Tetiana said.

Children from all over Ukraine met in the camp, even from front-line and “grey” zones of the Donbas. The organizers want children to grow up in an educational environment built on democratic values and dove into the world of the European community and become the future foundation for the European generation of Ukrainians of the 21st century.

To be curious means to be bold. I think that sincere curiosity, creative certainty and humanity have to encourage modern youth to discover their own abilities and possibilities given them by the universe. Modern scientific technologies allow people to constantly broaden their perception of the surrounding world. And if we decide to go further and dare to research ourselves: where do the frontiers of end and where do the path of inventions begin? I am sure that in the childhood Elon didn’t know that he would become that very Elon Musk. I am also sure, that true intellectual potential and need for science do not have neither national nor geographical borders or any other imposed borders and are born in mind and heart of. One of the key objectives of innovative informal education is to deeply develop this potential of youth, believes Lyudmila Bondarenko, the coordinator of European camp EuroCamp.

The new book by Andrii Tuzhykov called A Brief History of Technology: How to Understand One’s Own Gadget was published this month. So the students of EuroCamp became one of the first readers of this book. Readers of village libraries and children educational establishments of the Donbas will be the next in line who will get the possibility to understand more about the world of modern researches. In September the book will be presented for the general public at Book Forum.