Today children are growing up in the age of technology and it's not always what it's cracked up to be.

A lot of parents struggle with parenting around social media, video games, the internet, etc., but one documentary that will be screened at Strathcona Tweedsmuir School is trying to change that.

Alanna Wellwood, director of educational technology and programming at STS, says the documentary Screenagers is important because it problem solves this generation's digital obsession.

"I think the film is important because it tackles something I think everybody is currently struggling with and parents are looking for very clear succinct solutions and guidelines and this film does help provide, if not those solutions, a catalyst for discussion that will help a parent arrive at those solutions."

Wellwood says staggering statistics prove that screens are capturing this generation's attention far more than they should.

"What we have found is that kids surveyed spend an average of 6.5 hours a day looking at a screen, those kids being preteens/teenagers, and that doesn't include classroom or homework time. So that screen time is over and above what might be used during the school day. We also found boys in particular spend about 1.5 days a week on video games."

Wellwood adds in both of these circumstances science has shown basically an increase in dopamine production, a neurotransmitter in the brain, and it's a neurotransmitter that's also involved in addiction making these quantities of screen time a concern for potential addiction.

Screenagers: Growing Up in The Digital Age will also be followed by a panel discussion led by experts that Wellwood says will try to help and answer any further questions.

"We have a pediatrician currently sitting on a Canadian council to develop recommendations for screen time in young people, a clinical psychologist that often works with addiction and mental health within young people, and then I am speaking about how and when to know when digital technologies are appropriate in an educational context and what kind of things that might guide those decisions."

Screenagers will be presented at STS Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.

400 tickets have been purchased to date and can still be purchased online here or at the door for ten dollars, cash only.

For more information on the documentary click here. 

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