Registered psychologists Greg and Mary-Loe Goddard will be presenting Brain Bytes: How Screens have Shaped Generation Alpha and How Parents can Reset the Mold to kick off a six-part presentation and discussion series focused on navigating the online world.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Local registered psychologists Greg and Mary-Lou Goddard will be speaking to parents about the effects of excessive screen time and provide parents tools to help set boundaries and use technology mindfully.
The couple will be the first of a six-part presentation and discussion series focused on navigating the online world, hosted in partnership with Alberta Health Services, Medicine Hat College, Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education, the Digital Wellness Coalition and Medicine Hat Realtors Charitable Foundation.
The free six-part series kick off Jan. 22 and runs until June, and is aimed at empowering parents and caregivers raising children in the digital age, and sessions will cover a variety of topics including social media, app safety, gaming and online safety.
Greg and Mary-Lou’s presentation, titled “Brain Bytes: How Screens have Shaped Generation Alpha and How Parents can Reset the Mold,” will focus on setting screen limits while providing parent holistic approaches to help find a healthy solution.
The pair says they have seen a significant increase in anxiety and other issues among children that stems from too much screen time.
“We see in a lot of kids nowadays that there is a lot more anxiety that’s coming out of this generation, whether it’s social anxiety from social comparisons with other students their age, or information overload that their brains don’t have time to process,” says Mary-Lou.
The discussion will also highlight the use of personal-devices in an early age and offer busy parents suggestions to connect with their children away from the screen.
“They’re often using it, maybe as a babysitter, or as a way to help children to regulate,” explains Mary-Lou. “They think it’s regulating for the child because they see them calming down on the outside, but really on the inside, their dopamine is increasing.”
Increasing to an unhealthy level is difficult for developing brains to process, explains Mary-Lou, who says without excessive levels of screen time, past generations found natural ways to feel a sense of adventure and a healthy level of dopamine.
“Natural ways to feel that sense of adventure, of rush,” she says. “But now with screen time it’s causing a lot of children to try to meet that fix by watching the screen and by needing this fast paced dopamine rush.”
Mary-Lou says the negative change in our lifestyles has led to high correlation with several programs, including sleep disorder, social anxiety and engagement and attention issues.
The couple hopes to provide parents with strategies for setting boundaries and using an acceptable form of discipline for screen time while exploring the benefits of technology.
“There’s lots of ways that we can use technology in terms of helping our children grow and learn and to be involved,” says Mary-Lou. “For parents to take their rightful place in terms of being more mindful and being the expert on how we can use technology in a positive way, instead of letting children run with it.”
The hour-and-a-half presentation will provide a holistic point of view to empower parents to connect and help children grow and develop with personal devices and provide helpful information about the impact on the brain and mental health.
The discussion will also cover the impact of increased screen time during the pandemic and will look over information on the impacts to students during that time.
The first part in the free presentation will be held at the Medicine Hat College Theatre on Jan. 22 from 7-8:30 p.m. More details on the upcoming five presentations will be published once they are released.
