Shamma Bint Muhammad: Reading is no longer just a hobby, but rather a national project to confront the erosion of attention
Al Ain, 1st December / WAM / Sheikha Dr. Shamma bint Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan Cultural and Educational Institutions, presented an “existential” intellectual vision of the concept of reading in the modern era, warning of the danger of “flat reading” and the tyranny of algorithms that have come to decide human tastes and direct their awareness, calling for the adoption of “deep reading” as a strategy to resist distraction and build mental immunity for future generations.
This came during a dialogue session entitled “Reading as an Existential Act” hosted by Qasr Al Muwaiji yesterday, as part of the activities of the closing day of the Al Ain Book Festival 2025, in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Tamim, President of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, His Excellency Saeed Hamdan Al Taniji, Executive Director of the Centre, and an elite group of thinkers and intellectuals.
Dr. Shamma bint Muhammad diagnosed the current intellectual reality as undergoing a transformation that goes beyond technological development to a comprehensive change in human consciousness, noting the necessity of thinking differently to confront “three-dimensional challenges” represented by: the erosion of attention, the tyranny of algorithms, and the crisis of meaning.
Sheikha Shamma presented a roadmap to reprogram minds through three main axes: The first focused on “resisting flat reading,” which she described as the most dangerous threat of the era, as being satisfied with titles and quick summaries threatens the ability of generations to criticize and analyze, stressing that deep reading is a “mental sport” that trains the brain to be patient and focused and protects it from distraction, in contrast to rapid browsing, which causes a person to lose conscious presence.
The second topic dealt with the concept of “literacy in the post-word era”, where she explained that illiteracy is no longer ignorance of letters, but rather ignorance of the algorithms that control the content presented to the recipient, calling for learning to “read modern media” (videos and charts) with a critical eye, not a recipient’s, to enhance mental immunity against fake news and fragile knowledge.
In the third axis, she confirmed that reading in the UAE has transformed from a cultural activity into a “strategic force and national responsibility” since the announcement of the Year of Reading 2016 and the associated federal decree, pointing out that the future requires a “green publishing” model that restores the balance between knowledge and nature.
His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Tamim had emphasized in his opening speech that the “Shamma Mohammed Council for Thought and Knowledge” project represents a knowledge interface and a qualitative Emirati project that contributes to the renaissance of thought, describing it as transforming reading into an act that gives people multiple lives, and an existential practice that accumulates experiences and faces the limitations of time, and he appreciated Sheikha Shamma’s efforts in formulating a modern concept of reading that coincides with the center’s vision of consolidating sustainable reading.
The session concluded with an open invitation from Sheikha Shamma bint Mohammed to adopt “Reading Resistance,” which frees the mind from subconscious scrolling and returns it to its basic role of questioning, thinking, and researching, to build a future based on knowledge of the nation’s people.
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