A NEW film to be screened in Bathurst next month could prove to be the new manual in parenting in the 21st century.
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Screenagers – by filmmaker, physician and mother-of-two Delaney Ruston – takes a look at the struggles families face with social media, video games, and internet addiction.
It offers parents insights from authors and brain scientists to help bring to light some solutions on how people can empower kids to best navigate the digital world.
And it also seeks to scare some sense into viewers by making a range of startling claims about the impact of too much screen time.
These include problems such as decreased attention span, problems with developing social skills and a risk of clinical “internet addiction”.
We’re told these issues can affect kids as they continue their studies today, but also in the future with their career.
Even if only half of the doomsday predictions come true, the film provides a compelling case for the need for change – and soon.
The issue for many parents today is that adolescence is not what it used to be.
The challenges young people face today are vastly more complex than a generation ago.
Today’s generation of teens might be no more reckless than teens from the past, but they stand to pay a higher price for their mistakes and they have nowhere to hide from those who seek to hurt them.
Where once a teen’s lapse of judgment might be a source of amusement for a few, today it can became a viral video shared with the world.
Where once a teen’s schoolyard fight would be over when the bell went to end the day, today the intimidation can continue into their own bedroom well into the night.
Where once a parent could lock a teen in their room with their school books to study, today those school books are also a link to the entire world – and the terrible distractions it can offer.
No single film can seek to solve all the problems of modern parenting, but there can be no shortage of parents looking for some answers, at least.
If Screenagers can provide them, then it could easily prove to be two hours well spent.
It’s Bathurst City Community Club (BCCC) on June 8 and some parents are even taking their kids along – provided they can wrench them away from their screens, of course.