---
title: "Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Digitalization is the spirit of this age and the reality brought by this era”"
description: "The Fi-gital Future Summit 2021 is being organized in cooperation with Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education and Uskudar University."
url: https://uha.com.tr/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-digitalization-spirit-of-the-age-reality
type: article
language: en
last_updated: 2026-02-27
category: haber
---

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## Üsküdar Üniversitesi
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# Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Digitalization is the spirit of this age and the reality brought by this era”

## Bilgi

| Özellik | Değer |
|---------|-------|
| **Kategori** | haber |
| **Yayın Tarihi** | 2021-06-08 |
| **Güncelleme** | 2026-02-27 |
| **Kaynak** | [Üsküdar Haber Ajansı](https://uha.com.tr/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-digitalization-spirit-of-the-age-reality) |

## Özet

The Fi-gital Future Summit 2021 is being organized in cooperation with Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education and [Uskudar University](https://uskudar.edu.tr/). Speaking at the opening panel of the summit, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Uskudar University, emphasized that everyone should now see digitalization as a necessity, a responsibility brought by the times. Prof. Dr. Tarhan said, “Digitalization is the spirit of the age and the reality brought by this era. We must not face this reality like a wind but take it to our backs and move towards our goal. We believe this is important as fi-gitalization. It should not be just digitalization, but a synthesis of physical and digital. This is also important for social and emotional skills.”

## İçerik

![](https://cdn.uskudar.edu.tr/uploads/images/2021/06/08/800/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-ve-levent-yazici_5.png)

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Digitalization is the spirit of this age and the reality brought by this era”

Istanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı also stated that important lessons should be learned from the pandemic and noted that students, teachers, and parents gained significant benefits from the digitalization experienced during the pandemic process. At the summit, which will be held online until June 11, Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy, Prof. Dr. Sinan Canan, Prof. Dr. Acar Baltaş, and Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Arıboğan will meet with young people and discuss topics related to the digital future.** **

The “Fi-gital Future Summit 2021” is being organized between June 7-11, 2021, in cooperation with Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education and Uskudar University. The summit, held online due to the pandemic, started with a panel moderated by Journalist Şaban Özdemir, attended by Istanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı and Founding Rector of Uskudar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan.

![](https://cdn.uskudar.edu.tr/uploads/images/2021/06/08/800/levent-yazici_2.jpeg)

**Levent Yazıcı: “Fi-gital Future Summit will offer significant contributions”**

Istanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı stated that they are carrying out multi-faceted studies with Uskudar University in line with the institutional cooperation understandings envisioned by the 2023 education vision, adding, “In this context, the Fi-gital Future Summit will offer a significant contribution in terms of thinking about educational environments and future learning environments.” Yazıcı noted that with the transition to distance education, the dimension of learning was significantly affected not only in Turkey but all over the world, saying, “I think this effect is not academic, contrary to what is believed, but related to emotional and social areas. In other words, it contains different dimensions for the multi-faceted development of our students. We assume that academic learning has been affected in many ways, but I think this has occurred more within the child’s integrity and emotional framework.” Levent Yazıcı noted that in this context, psychosocial support that can be offered gained great importance in distance learning environments, as much as technological studies to be carried out. “In this framework, teachers, students, parents, and all non-governmental organizations that produce value regarding these processes also undertake many duties in the same context. Of course, we continue to work with the same inclusive and encompassing enthusiasm.” he said.

**Levent Yazıcı: “Fi-gitalization Manifesto should be evaluated in a multi-faceted way”**

Levent Yazıcı said: “In this context, the ‘New Normals and New Answers’ manifesto, published by Uskudar University with its management, academics, and administrative staff, which is in a sense a fi-gitalization manifesto, needs to be evaluated in a multi-faceted way. I especially want to state that the Ministry of National Education carried out truly different studies that need to be expressed with certain dimensions within the questions Uskudar University sought answers to. In this framework, the Ministry of National Education entered the pandemic process prepared in many respects. Because from the very beginning of the process, regarding distance education, there is no need to explain all of them one by one, but a few points that coincide with Uskudar University’s fi-gitalization manifesto text should be specifically stated. The issue of digitalization and nationally valid certificates really needs to be underlined. As the Ministry of National Education, we saw the following scene from the first days of the pandemic; while many countries in Europe and America could not start distance education, in our country, the distance education process started very quickly with the existing infrastructure, established institutional collaborations, and the sacrifices of our teachers.”

**We once again saw the importance of socializing at school**

Levent Yazıcı said, “In this process, we once again saw how vital school learning, socialization at school, the maturation process at school, and the gains obtained or obtainable by the student being present at school are. The foundation of learning must definitely proceed in integrity with the student’s emotions and thoughts. Only certain competencies do not truly contribute to the multi-faceted development of the student. As we always state, perhaps the easiest aspect we can compensate for is academic deficiencies. But the truly vital issues we need to develop for the student in an integrated manner will be the development of our student’s emotional world, thoughts, social aspect, cultural aspect, and social skills in integrity.”

![](https://cdn.uskudar.edu.tr/uploads/images/2021/06/08/800/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhann-1_2.png)

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “One of the 21st Century skills is the principle of a learning organization”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Uskudar University and Psychiatrist, also stated in his opening panel speech that the Fi-gital Future Summit was created together with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education, adding, “The vision of the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education on this issue was very important. They contributed this vision to us, and we prepared with our faculty members and team. A global digital transformation is underway. For example, EBA TV became a very good phenomenon for us. It was understood that the EBA TV education and information system was a very serious phenomenon. There was a shock for a few weeks in the beginning, we experienced it too, but it recovered quickly.” Tarhan noted that one of the 21st-century skills is the principle of a learning organization, stating, “According to the principle of a learning organization, everyone learns. Teachers learn, students learn, society learns, and lifelong learning takes place.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “How did digitalization affect our lives?”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that digitalization was very urgent during the pandemic process, especially in education and health, saying, “In both cases, our Ministry of National Education and we, as a university, provided case examples. In education, we had the right to digitalization by law, around 30 percent. We had planned to exceed 30 percent beforehand and established our infrastructure. This requires a very serious infrastructure. EBA is actually a very large technological infrastructure. As a university, we have 22 thousand students, and we thought about how to reach them. Two weeks later, we were able to conduct synchronized live lessons. While many institutions or universities were progressing by providing video information and assignments, we delayed the academic calendar by two weeks, started from scratch, and were able to provide synchronized lessons. Our faculty members have conducted classes partly from home and partly from the institution so far, about half and half. We hope for normalization next month, the end of the tunnel is in sight. In such a situation, how did this digitalization affect our lives? I question what the mandatory digitalization brought by Covid taught us about education. How should we act in our new normals from now on? This applies both on an institutional level and for our young people, educators, and families listening to us.”  

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Anxiety rises when you always focus on the threat”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that there are two legs to danger in crises: “The first leg is the threat, and the second is the opportunity. When we always focus on the threat, we see that people’s anxiety increases; they constantly watch infectious disease specialists. When watching infectious disease specialists, threat-focused anxiety rises, and as anxiety rises, post-pandemic psychiatric problems began to increase. There is a threat against this, but within every threat, there is also an opportunity and a gain. When there was mandatory confinement at home, when there was isolation or when we were with our children, we tried to make them think about how I can guide and shape it towards better and more beautiful in my life.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Distance learning is possible, but distance education is not”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that after the first wave of the pandemic last year, they held a full-day brainstorming session with academics at the university during the summer, saying, “We held a serious vision meeting with 100 academics and senior management. As a result, we wanted to publish such a manifesto. Learning can be done remotely, but education cannot be done remotely. That’s why we wanted to make it fi-gital. However, there were difficulties with fi-gitalization too, but now at least it can proceed with some compensations.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Societal psychology does not operate differently from individuals’”**

Recalling that parents were asking whether the past two years were lost years, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “It is definitely not correct to think that way. This is not a lost year. Human life does not always proceed in a straight line. It is the same in societal life as in personal life. When we compare society and humans, humans are an enlarged society. When you enlarge a human, it becomes society; when you shrink society, it becomes a human. There is such a dynamic balance. Societal psychology does not operate differently from individuals’ psychology. It operates with a similar dynamic. Sociological dynamics and psychological dynamics show a very serious parallelism.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Our society is a wise society, around 60 percent”**

Reminding that as Uskudar University, they conducted a study last year during the pandemic period on people’s fear, panic, and anxiety levels, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said: “Our university has an epidemiological research unit. Immediately, 25 clinical psychology master’s students were given thesis topics. All of them established connections in different parts of Anatolia, and tests were administered to 6,318 people. Perception, anxiety, fear, and psychosocial maturity related to the pandemic were measured. There were 5-6 questions about psychosocial maturity. The answers we received there were interesting. For example, results such as ‘I understood the value of what I have more’ and ‘I started to treat my loved ones better’ emerged. There was a post-traumatic growth scale. We asked 6 questions from that scale. Our society is a wise society, around 60 percent. Some say what percentage of society is intellectually disabled, but on the contrary, the tests showed 60 percent wisdom in society. With the highest score of 74, ‘I appreciate what I have’ came out.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “21st Century must be the century of wisdom”**

As a result of the test, findings such as ‘I started to give more importance to spiritual values, I started to give more importance to the rights of others, I started to notice income inequality in society more, I started to realize the importance of respecting nature more’ emerged. People learn many things. There is a wisdom rate of 60 percent. I see that Anatolian wisdom and sagacity continue. We have a 40 percent loss. This 40 percent loss will manifest as various psychiatric illnesses or loss of psychological resilience against illnesses in society. I estimate that this 40 percent rate will rise to 70-80 percent when the pandemic ends. To meet such a crisis correctly, we must have human wisdom. The 20th century was the century of information; the 21st century must be the century of wisdom.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Emotional and social skills are as important as cognitive and mental skills”**

Stating that “Brain-computer interfaces were just a dream and had not entered the scientific field,” Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “We started the Science and Idea Festival with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education in 2013. The last one was announced with a one-year delay due to the pandemic. The schools that won first place and received honorable mentions have been determined. Its ceremony will be held in a fi-gital format. Its first topic in 2013 was artificial intelligence. The world is moving towards this, and we created that concept to encourage high school students to bring projects and work on it. Currently, the Ministry of National Education has made a huge leap in this regard. Project schools and design workshops have been opened. Children need to learn not only cognitive and mental skills but also emotional and social skills. Very serious work has been done on this. This vision plays a very big role in getting through the Covid pandemic with less damage.”

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “It was very important not to neglect children emotionally and socially. Having a high awareness of this certainly affected educators, mothers, fathers, and the entire education army. In addition to teaching students socialization, emotional skills, emotional literacy, and how to read their own emotions, it needs to be discussed in education that socialization is a brain phenomenon, that there are areas of the brain responsible for sociality, that these need to be developed, and that it is a scientific category.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Information needs to be continuously updated”**

Tarhan noted that everything changes very rapidly in the age of speed we live in, saying, “We adapted to this very easily. This is a wheel that needs to keep turning. Like riding a bicycle, if you stop for a moment, you will fall. The half-life of information used to be 30 years, and before that, 60 years. Now it has dropped to 3 years. Information becomes obsolete every 3 years. Therefore, we need to constantly update information, we need to update ourselves. That’s why, as a university, we say ‘Start with yourself to change the world’. Mevlana has a very beautiful saying; ‘In my childhood and youth, I was intelligent and tried to change the world, but now I am wise and I try to change myself’.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “We must synthesize religion and science”**

Stating that “With Covid, the Western world realized that while trying to change the world, they forgot to change themselves,” Prof. Dr. Tarhan said, “Currently, sages will emerge in the Western world and discover wisdom. We are sitting on the treasure of Anatolian wisdom. Since we are sitting on this treasure, we need to discover, develop, and assimilate it by synthesizing religion and science. If we can do this, we will have created a new model that will be an example to the world.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Digitalization is good for Alzheimer’s”**

Tarhan noted that there is now mandatory digitalization and that digitalization is a reality of our lives, saying, “Those over 40 find it difficult to understand this, but it is an unavoidable reality. This is like learning a new language; it’s really difficult, but we will learn. Digitalization is good for Alzheimer’s because it creates new networks in the brain. Digitalization is like medicine against Alzheimer’s for those over 40. For those under 40, if their only area of interest is computers, it leads to autism. Currently, there is a concept called learned autism. Those whose sole interest is computers form different networks in their brains. Since the pruning of their brains develops differently, they cannot understand when everyone laughs and jokes, their social skills are low, they cannot adapt, but they become geniuses on the computer. Such human types are emerging. Therefore, cognitive skills are developed on the computer, but social and emotional skills should not be neglected. During the upcoming summer, young people must definitely connect with nature. Both young people and families should emphasize this. This will be very good for their mental health. It is important for children to have close relationships with older people. This is our social capital.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “It should not only be digitalization, but a synthesis of physical and digital”**

Stating that “As a society, we have a very good ability to organize ourselves,” Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “We handled this crisis very well globally. In both the health system and the education system, we performed above average worldwide. Due to these characteristics, everyone should now see digitalization as a necessity, a responsibility brought by the times. Digitalization is the spirit of the age and the reality brought by this era. We must not face this reality like a wind but take it to our backs and move towards our goal. We believe this is important as fi-gitalization. It should not be just digitalization, but a synthesis of physical and digital. This is also important for social and emotional skills.”

**Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: “Those who do not despair will win”**

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the biggest enemy is despair and pessimism, saying, “People should not fall into despair. Our biggest enemy is despair and pessimism. In our holy book, cutting off hope from God is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Therefore, let’s not fall into despair here. Every event has visible causes and invisible wisdoms. We will understand these wisdoms, and what contributions they have made, in the time to come, in the next decades. Those who do not despair will win.”

**Tuesday, June 8, Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy will meet with young people**

Within the scope of the Fi-gital Future Summit 2021, which attracted significant interest especially from candidates who will take the university entrance exam, Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy, Vice-Rector of Uskudar University and Director of the Institute of Addiction and Forensic Sciences, will give a presentation titled “What is Urgently Needed and Suddenly Possible” and meet with young people on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, at 20:00. At the summit, which will continue until Friday, June 11, 2021, Psychologist Prof. Dr. Acar Baltaş will participate with a speech titled “Opportunities and Limits of Artificial Intelligence”; Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Arıboğan, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Uskudar University, with “Fi-gital Education in the Hybrid Era”; and Prof. Dr. Sinan Canan, Faculty Member in the Psychology Department at Uskudar University, with “Remaining Human in the Digital Future”. The summit, which will be held via Zoom, can also be followed on Uskudar University’s Official YouTube channel.

** **

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*Kaynak: [Üsküdar Haber Ajansı](https://uha.com.tr) — https://uha.com.tr/prof-dr-nevzat-tarhan-digitalization-spirit-of-the-age-reality*