Silence creeps into modern Arab family life

Silence Cairo – Rawda Fouad Although coherence is one of the most prominent features of Arab family life, the consequences of our fast-paced lives is causing isolation between family members. Parents are busy at work and their children are shut in their rooms either in front of their computers or televisions. As a result, conversation between family members is dying out.  
So, what do young people say about this phenomenon?
Doaa Fawzi, 20 years old explained to Arabstoday that she does not tell everything that is  happening in her daily life to her family, but prefers to speak to her friends whom she trusts.
Nesma Mamdouh, 18 years old, agrees with Doaa adding that conversations between family members has became a rare occasion believing that the reason behind that is that everyone has their individual jobs or pastimes.
Tamer Abdallah, 25 years old, believes that the problem lies in the way his parents treat him, which distances him from discussing his problems with them. He would prefer they treated him as a friend to try and solve his problems for him.
Nahla Ibrahim, 20 years old, believes that information technology, such as the internet and television, is an essential factor in this phenomenon. She said that after spending a long and tiring day at university, she likes to return home and spend her down time in front of the television or computer as a means of entertainment, leaving no time in the day remaining, to talk with her parents.
On the other hand, Naglaa Mahmoud, 18 years old, expressed her regret that her parents were never around to talk due to their jobs which has forced her to resort to her friends or sisters.
As for the parents' point of view, they too agreed on the absence of family conversations.
Yahya Hussien, an employee in a private company, said he works all day long to provide a decent life for his children and when he comes back home, he finds them asleep. Also his wife is working to meet all their children's needs, so they can't find time to sit with together to discuss  their individual problems.
Mona Hussien, a housewife, said her only son spends most of his time chatting with his friends on the internet in preference to talking to his family.
Family dialogue, has become one of the most-discussed issues in psychology and sociology. A research study carried out by the University of Pennsylvania discovered that pressures of work and family problems result in a lack of emotional connection between parents and their children creating  psychological problems for children.
Asmaa Abdel-Moneim, professor of psychology at the University of Ain Shams in Cairo said that this problem depends on the personality of both parents and children, however, there are environmental and social reasons too, such as the parents' jobs and their need to relax once home after work,  so there is neither the time nor the will to converse with their children.
Abdel-Moneim also pointed out that media, including  television and the internet are contributing to the problem with family members sitting in front of screens for many hours. Also, she said, there is a wide gap between generations; the young generation considers their parents as narrow-minded, while the older generation considers their children as immature which results in what is called "self-talk" or lack of dialogue between family members.
Finally Abdel-Moneim advised that parents should find the time for dialogue and listening to the problems  of their  children and try to solve them in order to be a good role model for their children.
Specialists in this field say that families should set aside at least one hour a day for conversations between parents and children to solve their problems and  respond to their concerns.