March 14: Do Kids Spend Too Much Time On Screens?

Girl playing game on tablet computer by Kaspars Grinvalds via Adobe Stock

Educators concerned that a whole generation of children are being harmed by overexposure to electronic devices are inviting Key Biscayne parents to a community forum and a screening of an award-winning documentary, “Screenagers.”

There are two showings on March 14 at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Lighthouse Room at the Key Biscayne Community Center. Admission is free. The event is being sponsored by the Village of Key Biscayne and the Principals’ Coalition.

“We hope parents will view the movie and think about screen time carefully,” said Anne Rothe, a member of the coalition and director of the Key Biscayne Presbyterian School.

“We see even young children who aren’t in the habit of being able to read or listen to a story read by a grownup, because they are accustomed to the immediate gratification of the screen,” she said.

The 2016 movie “Screenagers” was directed by a physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston who saw how technology was having an impact on her own kids.

“I was facing a challenge that caught me off-guard — raising teenagers whose attention was increasingly consumed by screen-based activities. With a 14-year-old son who loved video game time and a 12-year-old daughter who was lobbying hard for her own smart phone, I encountered frequent battles on both fronts. I would work on being tolerant, then suddenly lose my patience, and then feel guilty for getting mad,” Delaney writes on the documentaries’ website.

The movie trailer can be found at www.screenagersmovie.com.