Screenagers: Film and Discussion at the Scarsdale Library

"SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age" film invites reflection and discussion about family challenges in today's screen-obsessed culture

Today's families are facing extraordinary challenges regarding connection, involvement, interaction, empathy and hands-on living. At the center of this contemporary predicament is a youth culture invested in screens, mobile devices and virtual interaction. If you are watching your kids scroll through life, with rapid-fire thumbs and six-second attention spans, you will find special interest in a provocative film "SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age," to be shown at Scarsdale Public Library Nov. 2 and Nov. 3. Each screening will be followed by a discussion moderated by Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Center staff. Parent discussion guides will be provided to inspire thoughtful consideration and productive debate. This event is generously sponsored by Scarsdale Teen Center, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Services, Scarsdale Public Library, Scarsdale PT Council and Scarsdale Middle School PTA.

"SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age" is the brainchild of physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston, who crafted the film out of her professional experiences and her day-to-day life with her own kids. In particular, Ruston became increasingly concerned about research showing average kids spending 6.5 hours a day looking at screens. She saw this in her own home and wondered about its impact. She also wondered about the affects of an epidemic of contentious negotiations over screen time occurring nationwide in homes and schools.

In SCREENAGERS, like her other award-winning documentaries on mental health, Ruston takes a deeply personal approach to probe the vulnerable corners of family life and explore struggles over social media, video games, academics and Internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS not only reveals how tech time impacts kids' development. It also offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.

Ruston is a filmmaker, Stanford trained physician and mother of two. She said she decided to make "SCREENAGERS" because she believes in the importance of helping kids find balance in our tech-filled world. She is passionate about using the film as a vehicle to inspire discussion among parents, educators and kids – so change can happen in homes, schools and communities. She "loves engaging audiences in solution-centered discussions" and is excited that her daughter, Tessa, who is in the film, has enjoyed being part of these discussions.

"As a physician, I became increasingly anxious to know how our new tech world affects children's development," Ruston said. "I started finding new research on the impact of video gaming and social media on self-esteem, empathy, social skill development, academics and brain development. As a mom, I wanted to examine how we can better manage screen time in our homes and schools. What does science teach us about teaching self-control? How can we best encourage youth to find their own ways to achieve balance? What limits and rules are reasonable and how do we implement them?"

Eventually, given the struggles Ruston was facing at home, along with the results of her research, she decided to make a film. "I needed to find stories that addressed the questions and ideas floating in my head," she explained. "I was completely surprised to learn how hard it would be to capture family and school challenges on film. Finding stories for my past mental health films had been difficult, but this was harder. I had underestimated how private parenting is. I started to see it in myself, noticing that I was too shy to tell friends my rules, such as the one about prohibiting cell phones in the car. Other friends were embarrassed to tell me they had no rules. And we were all self-conscious about how hard it was to enforce any rules we did have."

In the course of making the film, Ruston's team fortunately found "incredible families, teachers and children across the U.S. from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds ... who shared experiences that are relatable, very personal, but not sensational." She decided to include her own family's struggles too. "Some of the stories are cautionary tales that give us an encounter with scenarios we hope to avoid by knowing about them in advance, but mostly they inspire empathy, understanding and action," Ruston said.

The filmmaker hopes public screenings and follow-up discussions will be effective in several ways. First, she hopes the film will reveal the magnitude of today's screen-age problem. "Nearly every family and school faces similar struggles, and the next step is to talk openly about solutions," she said. "My daughter told me she didn't realize other families were sorting out rules too, after she participated in her first post-film discussion." The second intended result of the film is to increase understanding of why balance is needed. Ruston contends this is important because it gives parents the confidence to set appropriate tech limits. "For example, what if it became normal for parents of young kids to talk about ensuring offline time during playdates?" she pondered. The third intended result is to inspire communities to work together "so young people and adults can collaborate to better manage screen time in their homes and schools," Ruston said.

Her approach is sincere: "We all know that our new lives with kids and tech is challenging—I still struggle at home. I have learned that I can't always know if I am parenting the 'right' way but I can know that I am parenting with integrity...integrity by following my belief that I have a responsibility to provide my kids with the most diverse type of experiences as possible."

Prior to "SCREENAGERS," Ruston's production company, MyDoc Productions, made award-winning feature documentaries such as "Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia," about her father, and "Hidden Pictures," about global mental health. She has been invited to speak and screen her films to diverse audiences around the world – such as at primary schools, conferences, medical centers, universities, the United Nations, the TEDx stage in Seattle and the World Health Organization.

Throughout her education at Cornell University, Stanford Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for residency, Ruston studied diverse aspects of filmmaking and focused on film as a vehicle for social change. She made her first award-winning short film while doing her medical residency at UCSF. She then completed a Fellowship in Ethics and Communication at UCSF and went on to become faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle. She then completed a National Endowment for The Arts funded filmmaking program and was later awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to make films in India. Along with filmmaking, Ruston has spent over a decade providing primary care to underserved populations. Recently she became the Filmmaker-in-Residence at the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook Medicine, in New York. For her work in using film to launch advocacy movements, Ruston has won several awards.

Two showings of "SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age," followed by moderated discussions, will take place in the Scott Room of the Scarsdale Library on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m., and Thursday, Nov. 3, at 9:15 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required, due to limited space. For further information or to RSVP, contact Ellen Tiven-Moore at 914-722-8358 or, by email, at [email protected].