(5:30) Tickets on sale now, both at our box office and online here.
Do you have concerns about children's screen time & media use? Ragtag, City Garden Grade School, Garden Gate School, and the Unschool are partnering for a special community event (film and discussion) about media in children's lives.
Screenagers takes a close look at the wide-ranging effects of increased screen time on children and teenagers. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with local experts — physicians, psychologists, educators — who will field your questions and discuss the role of media in education, the effects of screen time on social development, and share ideas for what good "digital citizenship" can look like.
According to a comprehensive, national study from Common Sense Media, American teenagers average about 9 hours a day of entertainment media use, excluding time spent at school or for homework; while tweens rack up an average of about 6 hours daily. Simultaneously, more and more schools are focusing on screens as resources in the classroom, often at the expense of other types of programming. And while schools are providing portable electronic devices to students, teachers are struggling to manage cell phone use in the classroom as well as the increased demand for media literacy. Meanwhile, parents feel pressured to buy cell phones for children at younger ages, and struggle to support healthy habits for themselves and their families. What's to be done? What can communities, schools, teachers, and parents do to address the growing concerns about how to use these technologies in healthy ways? And, can we work together to support one another's goals?
We aim to bring together different and knowledgeable points of view in order to create a public discussion that begins here and continues in our communities and schools. Without the backing of fundamental research into the effects of technologies that are radically altering a new generation, it is important to explore these topics carefully and collectively.
The panel will include:
Nick Kremer, the English Language Arts and Social Studies Coordinator for Columbia Public Schools. He additionally teaches a variety of in-person and online classes for the University of Missouri, including a course on Media Literacy. Nick and his wife, Ashley, are also the parents of 5 young kiddos who inevitably will become screenagers one day.
Nicole Campione-Barr, an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Missouri. She studies how parent-child and sibling relationships function and interact over the course of adolescence and how these relationships influence teens' well-being.
Shelli Thelen, a former Kindergarten teacher, now fifth grade teacher for the Columbia Public School District. Ms. Thelen has her Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education and has a love of meaningful technology in the classroom. As a parent to three teens, books trump tech and admits this is a battle at times.
Samuel Otten, a faculty member in mathematics education at the University of Missouri. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and is currently studying flipped instruction and the use of tablet computers in mathematics classrooms. He teaches a course titled Technology in Mathematics Education.
Brittney Stevenson, an occupational therapist who works for the University of Missouri and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental disorders. She works closely with children, adolescents and their families to build independence in daily life skills.
About the film:
In SCREENAGERS, as with her other award-winning documentaries on mental health, physician and filmmaker Dr. Delaney Ruston takes a personal approach as she probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant stories, along with surprising insights from leading experts, SCREENAGERS reveals how screen time impacts kids' development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.