about screenagers - Elementary School age edition

This new version of the original Screenagers movie addresses issues that elementary school aged kids, parents and educators are facing, i.e., smartwatches in class, unhooking from and monitoring video gaming, social media pressures, exposure too young and what research shows is a healthy amount of screen time. With many solutions to these and other challenges.

Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition, is an essential watch for all those looking to address and support mental wellbeing in the digital age.


Official release date: 09/03/2024.
Available now for licensing - click here to inquire.

synopsis

Are you watching kids become too accustomed to using technology at too young an age? Physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston saw that with her kids and learned that the average kid spends many hours a day looking at screens. She wondered about the impact of all this screen time and the friction occurring in homes and schools around negotiating screen time.

In Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition, Dr. Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she explores the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social media, video games, academics, and internet addiction.

Through insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions for empowering kids to navigate the digital world and find balance.

testimonials

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I hope parents, teachers & schools will watch this together

Preview Audience Member

The film does a great job addressing issues younger kids would face

Preview Audience Member

Casts light on the impacts of too much screen time on young minds

Preview Audience Member

It doesn't just discuss smartphones, but also smartwatches, tablets and computers

Preview Audience Member

The interviews are very powerful. Love seeing the real dialogue between parents and kids

Preview Audience Member

LOVE IT! Very timely and engaging

Preview Audience Member

film team

DELANEY RUSTON
Co-Director / Co-Producer

Delaney Ruston chose her two career paths of primary care physician and documentary filmmaker for one reason: to help create positive change in people’s lives. Her experiences receiving medical care in free clinics while growing up motivated her to pursue health care. During her medicine residency, she began studying filmmaking for social impact and made her first award-winning film.

For twenty years Delaney has split her time between providing primary care and creating short and feature-length documentaries, such as "Screenagers", "Screenagers Next Chapter", and "Screenagers Under The Influence". Examples of her other films include "Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia" about her father and "Hidden Pictures" about global mental health. These films have been screened widely, aired on PBS, and were at the forefront of advocacy campaigns, including with the World Health Organization. For her work in using films to building movements, Delaney has won several awards including Harvard’s McLean National Council Recognition Award and New York’s Fountain House Advocacy Award.

Delaney trained at Stanford Medical School, followed by a medicine residency at UC San Francisco. She has practiced and taught medicine in diverse settings including faculty positions at The University of Washington School of Medicine and at The Center for Medical Humanities, Bioethics and Compassionate Care at Stony Brook School of Medicine, NY.

Ruston has conducted investigative research in diverse fields—including biophysics at NIH, bioethics, and communication at UCSF and behavioral health as a Fulbright Scholar. She has spent the past six years intensely researching the impact of screen time on youth and solutions for screen time balance.

LISA TABB
Co-Director / Co-Producer

Lisa Tabb is a distinguished producer with a rich background in digital media and parenting. She co-produced the four Screenagers Movies and co-directed Screenagers Under The Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol. She also co-produces The Screenagers Podcast and edits the “Screenagers’ Tech Talk Tuesday weekly blog. Tabb has made significant contributions to the global discourse on youth screen time, with the films reaching over 10 million individuals in more than 100 countries. Her publishing achievements include Parenting in the Digital Age: A Guide to Calm Conversation. Before her foray into film, she spent 15 years at ABC 7 News in San Francisco, focusing on parenting trends and emerging technologies.

experts in the film

JONATHAN HAIDT, PHD

Prof. Social Psychology, NYU, Author, The Anxious Generation

LAURA KASTNER, PHD

Author & Child Psychologist

SHERRY TURKLE, PHD

Author, Reclaiming Conversation

Doug Gentile, PHD

Psychology Researcher Iowa State University

Lizz dexter-mazza, Phd

Child Psychologist & Author

DIMITRI CHRISTAKIS, MD

Child Development Researcher, Seattle Children’s Hospital

PEGGY ORENSTEIN

Author, Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Judy Owens, Md

Dir. of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Lauren Hale, Phd

Prof., Stony Brook Medicine, Editor-In-Chief, Sleep Health

LESLIE WALKER, MD

Pediatrician, Seattle Children’s Hospital

Anna Lembke, MD

Chief of Stanford Addiction Medicine, Author, Dopamine Nation

Hilarie Cash, PhD

Psychologist, Co-Founder Restart: Internet Rehab

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