Community Connect Week in Review: The Documentary Screenagers, Growing Up in the Digital Age

This week, Community Connect mixed things up when it aired the movie “SCREENAGERS, Growing Up in the Digital Age.”  The award-winning documentary probes into the challenges today’s families face over social media, video games, the Internet, academics and more. Sharing funny stories, research findings and insights from authors, psychologists, brain scientists and doctors, SCREENAGERS gets to the heart of how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower students to successfully navigate the digital world.
 
SCREENAGERS covered a range of topics, including:

• The power of balance, boundaries and rules.
• The impact of screen time on academic performance.
• Why empathy can be lower when screen time is higher.
• The lost art of eye contact and in-person connections.
• The role of anxiety.  
• The role of video game violence, and how it can impact behavior, thoughts and actions.
• The negative correlation between screen time and sleep.
• The (misguided) belief about multitasking and the ability to do better and accomplish more.
• Debunking the myth that kids are over-scheduled … is the bigger concern that they don’t have enough activities, leading to more screen time?

 
We know there are so many great aspects to technology devices. The speed of information enables us to access data and insight anytime, from anywhere. We’re able to stay connected and in touch. Our students can even hone their strategy and collaboration skills.  
 
Herein lies the new digital divide.
 
So how can we help our kids manage their online lives? SCREENAGERS shared some strategies that Community Connect attendees will deep dive into next week. They include: setting clear guidelines, developing a tech/device contract together with your student, leaving devices at home a day or two each week, charging devices in a non-bedroom space, adding more outdoor activities, exercising self-control, and parents agreeing to follow the same rules!
 
We’d like to extend a big thank you to the businesses in our community that sponsored this event: Village Pediatrics at Vickery and Pepperoni’s Midway.
 
What’s next?
Join us on September 25 for our next Community Connect event focused on “Exploring and Discussing: SCREENAGERS, Growing Up in the Digital Age.” Whether you attended the movie screening or not, you’re invited to join this interactive session, where parents and students will share tips, approaches and best practices that have worked in their lives.
 
Dinner starts at 5:30 pm and will be catered by Lennys Grill & Subs. $5 feeds your entire family. Click here to register, and remember free childcare is available for children ages 3 and up.
 
To view the full calendar of 2019-2020 events, visit westcommunityconnect.com.