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Clinton PTA Hosts Talk, Film Screening to Bring Balance to Screen Time

On Thursday, Nov. 9, the Clinton PTA will host a free event, open to the public, that aims to tackle an increasingly topical issue: teenagers and their obsession with their phones, starting with a 6:30 p.m. showing of the film Screenagers by physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston.

The screening will be held at the Morgan School, 71 Killingworth Turnpike, Clinton.

PTA Vice President Laura Colebank called this event the biggest of the PTA’s 2017-2018 year—”We feel this is a very important topic.”

According to the film’s synopsis on its website, www.screenagersmovie.com, Screenagers “probes into the vulnerable corners of family life...to explore struggles over social media, video games, academics and Internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, Screenagers reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.”

The event will start with a viewing of the movie, followed by a discussion. During the discussion, a panel consisting of students, parents, and possibly an educator will be available for questions from the audience.

Colebank said the PTA wanted to host the event because of studies that show too much screen time for teenagers can be dangerous to their still developing brains.

“Personally, my biggest challenge is getting kids to understand that they need balance and that the screen time can be bad for their brain development,” she said.

Colebank said that after the event, some of the discussion will be on different methods to achieve balance in screen time and time away from screens.

While Colebank acknowledged the benefits of today’s technology—”Nobody wants to take phones away completely”—she said “one of the focuses of the discussion is going to be how to have parents...help their kids find balances.”

However, Colebank also referenced studies that show that screen time can affect a teenager’s brain almost like an addiction, and that is what has community members and the PTA concerned.

To illustrate how time in front of a screen may be affecting kids, Colebank recalled a scene she witnessed at The Morgan School open house this year. Colebank had a conversation with a gym teacher, who had noticed that kids’ social skills and face-to-face interactions were declining. To remedy this, the gym teacher instituted more team building projects with the kids to boost their interpersonal skills.

“Everyone from the community is concerned,” Colebank said.

For more information, visit the PTA website www.clintonpta.org.