Now updated for 25/26 with the latest science, research, and expert insights, Screenagers is an award-winning documentary that dives into the challenges families face in this digital age.
Runtimes:
Full Version: 63 Minutes
Classroom Version: 45 Minutes
Film Team:
Director: Delaney Ruston, MD
Executive Producer: Lisa Tabb
Info:
Last Updated: 2025/26
Suitable for: Grade 6 up and adults
Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French and more
Are you watching young people immersed in their screens — scrolling through social media, playing video games, and losing focus with ever-decreasing attention spans?
Physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston faced this challenge with her own kids and screens. She questioned how this was affecting family dynamics, education, and the mental well-being of young people.
Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age takes a deeply personal and relatable approach. Delaney opens the doors to her own family life and meets with others to explore the messy struggles over social media, video games, academics, and internet addiction.
Through poignant and unexpectedly humorous stories, paired with surprising insights from leading experts, Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age reveals how screens are shaping kids’ development. Most importantly, it offers actionable solutions to help adults empower kids to navigate the digital age and find balance.
It's a wonderful film. Such a great conversation starter and so relatable to every family. Appreciate your ability to make a film that reaches to so many people. Great job!
The event was amazing and really created a sweet community of parents that want to continue these conversations. We are thankful to be a part of a very low-tech Montessori school community but families are still facing these social pressures within their families.
I had the privilege of showing this to my middle years class last year and found it to be an incredible resource/discussion starter. The class was fully engaged, and it was an amazing springboard into topics which are often hard to tackle.
Screenagers features guidance for youth, parents and educators, along with a range of expert advice:
Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business and author of several NYT bestselling books including 2024’s, The Anxious Generation.
Distinguished psychology professor at MIT, Turkle studies the social and psychological effects of technology and has written five books, including Alone Together and Reclaiming Conversation.
A nationally renowned author and speaker on issues related to teenage girls, Orenstein’s books include The New York Times best-sellers Cinderella Ate My Daughter and School Girls.
Carr has written multiple groundbreaking books on technology and culture, including What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains and The Glass Cage: How Our Computers Are Changing Us.
Christakis is an internationally renowned researcher in child development, having published more than 170 research articles in this area.
Dr. Walker-Harding is the Chief of Adolescent Medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital and an authority on teen addictive behaviors.
Nino Ramirez is the director of the Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Ramirez‘s research team focuses on the effects of screen time on memory and learning.
A clinical psychologist and researcher, Kastner is the author of several highly regarded books including Getting to Calm and Wise-Minded Parenting.
A researcher and leading expert on adolescence, Steinberg is the author of nearly 500 articles on development during the teenage years, and the author, co-author, or editor of 17 books.
Director of Research for the National Institute on Media and the Family. A developmental psychologist, he is also a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Iowa State University.
An internationally-recognized authority on pediatric sleep, Owens is the Director of Sleep Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston Massachusetts and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
Hale is the founding editor-in-chief of the Sleep Health Journal and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. An expert in the social patterns of sleep and how it contributes to a cycle of inequality in health and well-being.
Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of the reSTART Life, PLLC, Cash has been working in the field of mental health as a private practitioner and specializing in the emerging field of internet and video game addiction over the last 20 years.
A research psychologist and Professor Emeritus in the psychology department at CSU Dominguez Hills. Rosen specializes in multitasking, social networking and adolescent development. He is the author of 7 books.
Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age helps school communities better understand how screen time, social media, and digital distractions are shaping young people’s lives.
Across school and community screenings, audiences report high levels of engagement and increased awareness of the ways technology affects mental health, learning, and relationships.
By bringing students, parents, and educators together in the same room, the film creates a shared starting point for conversations about boundaries, balance, and healthy technology use. It also offers practical guidance for parents and aims to inform and empower young people to make thoughtful, independent decisions.
As the foundational film in the Screenagers series, Growing Up in the Digital Age often serves as the first step for schools looking to address digital wellbeing in a thoughtful, research-informed way.
Were engaged by the movie
Thought the movie contained important information
Were motivated to make positive change after watching
Source: 2025 Survey of Member Schools
There are two main ways hosts can show this movie in their school or community:
A one-time screening license allows hosts to screen one of our movies once to their school or community on a chosen date.
The Screenagers Project is our online membership platform for schools and other orgs serving youth, giving year-round access to our movies, curriculum and resources.
We also provide all hosts with a range of helpful resources to help them put on an impactful event:
We provide discussion guides to help hosts facilitate meaningful, informed conversations after a screening, supporting reflection, dialogue, and next steps.
Our marketing pack is available ahead of your event to help you plan and promote your screening. It includes ready-to-use posters, editable templates, social media graphics, and more.
Our membership includes an extensive library of lesson plans educators can use alongside school or classroom screenings. Materials are tailored for grades K–12 and designed to extend learning beyond the film.
Each film includes printable handouts for attendees, helping families learn more about the film’s themes and continue conversations at home and in the wider community.
Don’t just take our word for it! Here’s what some of our recent hosts had to say about their screenings
Our Screenagers movie event was a success! Your team was very helpful and professional. Screenagers has generated much discussion. We are planning for next year!
The event achieved exactly what we set out to and more. I could not have asked for any better. I received so much positive feedback!
So many people thanked us for having a showing and it seemed like everyone gleaned something from it! Thank you again for walking us through everything and making it easy to have a community event like this.
The parents definitely appreciated the film and walked away with new perspectives. We paired the screening with a panel discussion featuring a clinical child psychologist and an expert on media and children. It was a huge success!
We have been fortunate enough to screen your films multiple times in our schools and community, in partnership with many here in Westborough. It has helped fuel me in my work and as a parent.
The film itself is wonderful, and I was so happy to find the wealth of resources that came along with it. We are glad to have such good support for our work with parents.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
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