Screenagers

Are your kids scrolling through life, missing out on a childhood filled with imagination and outdoor adventure? Are they texting, not talking to their friends, walking with heads hung low unaware of the beauty surrounding them? Are you multitasking on your own device, half listening to your child talk about his or her day? You are not alone. Physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston examines the impact of digital devices on our lives and the fraught household negotiations that take place about them. In Screenagers, she takes a personal approach, exploring her own relationship with her daughter as they struggle over the purchase of a smartphone. She investigates other families struggling with the use of social media, video game addiction and the impact of digital devices in schools. Through interviews with teenagers, parents, authors, scientists and psychologists, Screenagers allows all perspectives to surface. The film becomes a catalyst for constructive dialogue and generates solutions about how parents and teens can navigate the new digital universe and attempt to find balance together. The film will be followed by bagels, cream cheese and a post-film discussion on the Castro mezzanine. REBOOT will share information about technology-free shabbat and the National Day of Unplugging as examples of intentional efforts to unplug. —Lexi Leban