Dear Friends,
As another precarious year comes to a close, conversations about digital media’s impacts continue to soar with young people’s digital media use, even as the world has begun to open up from the pandemic. The central role of media in the everyday lives of children, parents and families along with the widespread struggles of 2021 begin to weigh heavily as youth mental health and other effects are more broadly recognized by the public and policymakers.
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These key cultural and political moments underscore the significance of Children and Screens and its mission of scientific research, education and legislative action. In the weeks to come, we will publish a series of three short newsletters describing our year in review.
We begin this series describing our work helping parents, families, educators and the public to navigate our complicated digital media lives. Our most popular and timely resource is undoubtedly our popular bi-weekly webinars, Ask the Experts, a series of curated conversations by renowned interdisciplinary scientists, clinicians, parenting-experts and thought leaders around the way digital media and technology are changing the way our young people communicate, learn, self-identify, live and develop -- and what parents and educators can do about it. These virtual workshops, along with our Tips for Parents advice columns and our other educational activities are described below.
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We are proud that Children and Screens continued to lead the scientific community this year by awarding grants for cutting-edge research; we convened an important 2-day research retreat attended virtually by more than 120 esteemed scientists, clinicians and government agencies about digital media and youth mental health, and curated several papers regarding digital media and cognition and others. Planning has begun for a similar symposium about virtual learning and educational technology. These will be reviewed in our next newsletter.
Our third letter will brief you on our efforts to advocate for legislation to protect young people online through meetings and briefings with legislators and decision-makers, providing evidence-based research upon which to base new policies.
When I first dreamt of the Institute a decade ago, I envisioned bringing together interdisciplinary scientists and clinicians to discuss timely and vital questions, collaborate on research, and share insights with the public, educators, policymakers, media and industry. Today, our purpose and call for action is just as critical, if not more so. I hope that you will consider making a tax-deductible donation to Children and Screens to help us advance this fine work in 2022.
Read on to learn more about our educational efforts in 2021, as well as what we have in store on this front in 2022.
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Sincerely,
Dr. Pam Hurst-Della Pietra and the Children and Screens Dream Team: Gabrielle, Lauren, Madhuri, Kate, Cristian, Maggie, Jennifer, Jasmine, Anisha, Julie, Andre, Meghan, Tanner, Srimayee (Sri), Christina, Aarti, Lara, Vishnuja, Gregory, Jayna, Tanisha, Lindsay, Ava, Sofia, Erik, Hung-Yi, Katelyn, Amanda, Andrew, Ananya, Emily, Haoyan, Sanjana, Daniela, Laylani, Jessie, Ruowen, Annie, Joseph, George, Kwan, Sandra, Meryem, Ken, Qixuan, Olivia, Juliann, Kem, Grace, Sophie, Aditya, Avery, Kristen
Board of Advisors: Samuel Aronson, PhD, Naomi Baron, PhD, Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH, Charles Czeisler, PhD, MD, Tracy Day, Elizabeth Englander, PhD, Carmen Gill Bailey, MD, Lauren Hale, PhD, Carrie James, PhD, Heather Kirkorian, PhD, Colleen Kraft, MD, MBA, Barnaby Marsh, PhD, Larry Rosen, PhD, Ellen Wartella, PhD, Paul Weigle, MD
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From our first webinar of the year about violence in the media following the storming of the Capitol to closing out the year with a panel discussion on the “Facebook Files” and mental health, Children and Screens’ high-quality interdisciplinary Ask the Experts webinars and Tips for Parents have helped millions of parents, researchers, educators, and others grapple with screens and their impacts on our everyday lives. These webinars have been an important catalyst for discussion and have helped shape the national conversation around screen time and content during the global pandemic. This holiday season, we invite you to revisit the webinars that you care most about; they will surely help you think about and strategize about what your family can do in 2022 to improve your digital wellbeing.
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It took the contribution of about 80 panelists and moderators, 450-950 audience members per webinar from across all 50 states and over 30 countries, as well as the Children and Screens staff and interns, to deliver 15 outstanding and dynamic panel discussions. As the world continues to open up, the pandemic’s impacts on screen use will be more evident than ever, and the Children and Screens team hopes that you’ll tune into our webinar series in the Spring to keep up-to-date on all of the latest information and research! |
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Mark your calendars for our January 26th webinar about how digital media has changed society, and join us every-other Wednesday at noon throughout the year, when we will cover wide-ranging topics including how to help children at different ages and stages, the best apps for kids, education technology, and what we know about the rapidly-developing emerging technologies.
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Along with our many webinars, Children and Screens has released an extensive collection of actionable tips for parents, instructing and inspiring on topics ranging from the impacts of influencers on children and adolescents to controlling the potential explosion of digital media use during the pandemic. Our tips articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Metro US, LA Parent, and many other outlets.
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Keep an eye out for our next set of tips, created in collaboration with the Institute’s Board of Advisors and Parent Ambassadors to help you decide which New Year’s Resolutions could transform your household’s digital media habits, and help build connectedness, creativity and wellbeing!
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Thank you for your generosity if you have already donated to Children and Screens. If you have not already done so, please help us continue this fine programming in 2022 by making a gift to Children and Screens to support its communication, education, and information initiatives, all freely available to the public. Our resources provide necessary support to parents, caregivers, educators, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers everywhere to ensure that young people grow up safe, happy, and healthy in our increasingly digital world. Your contribution will go toward the development, production, and distribution of these free, public programs. |
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