Second Annual Wellness Night Discusses Screen Time and Students

Stuyvesant’s second annual Wellness Night was hosted in the auditorium on Thursday, April 12. The event included a screening of the documentary “Screenagers,” which explores the relationship between modern technology (specifically cell phones, social media, and video games) and teenagers. The film was followed by a discussion led by Assistant Principal of Counseling Casey Pedrick.

The Wellness Night aimed to address the effects of video games on the teenage brain, how to find a balance between schoolwork and social media, and how parents can guide teenagers in the digital age. Pedrick, Parent Coordinator Dina Ingram, and the Parents’ Association organized the event in response to unease from parents regarding their children’s use of technology. “They expressed that as a concern, so when we found out about this documentary, and that it was being well received, we thought that it’d be a very helpful event to bring to Stuyvesant,” Pedrick said. Out of the 120 attendees of the screening, only three were students.

Screen time use is definitely an existing problem among many Stuyvesant students. A survey conducted by The Spectator in the fall reported that 37 percent of freshmen surveyed spent one to three hours each day gaming and watching television, Netflix, and YouTube, and 15 percent of freshmen spent five to seven hours per day online.

“Screenagers” was geared toward parents, and explained how they can adjust to the quick-paced trends in today’s society. “Technology is moving so fast that parents often are finding it challenging to keep up with what are the newest things,” Pedrick said.

In one part of the film, a girl works with her parents to create a contract about using her new iPhone. In response, Pedrick and Ingram encouraged parents to have similar conversations with their kids. “We wanted to empower the parents to know that they can put some parameters on [screens]. We know from a school counseling standpoint that students crave structure and rules, knowing what rules there are, and knowing what the consequences are to breaking those rules.”

Following the documentary, Pedrick led an open question-and-answer session with the audience. “We needed the film to be our jumping-off point, but the discussion was for me one of the best discussions that I’ve had at an event at Stuyvesant,” Pedrick said. “[This event was] one of the rare times [...] when it was parents getting to speak to other parents.”

Both Pedrick and Ingram expressed the idea that parents and children should work together to find a balance that works for both parties. “That is often advice we give to parents on a variety of things from the counseling department, to be able to say, ‘This is a goal that you have, and if your child’s goal doesn’t line up with that, then there has to be a discussion and a compromise, and you both have to buy into the solution,’” Pedrick said.

Many parents found the Wellness Night informative. “[My mom] was surprised and kind of confused at the same time,” freshman Asif Sami said. “[She] finally knew some context as to what was going on.”

That night, Sami and his mom discussed how social media and his phone were having a negative effect on him and causing homework to take longer than it should. “Her statements do have truth in [them] because us kids, we’re doing our work, and all of a sudden there’s a notification bell that goes off,” Sami said.

However, many also have controversial opinions toward “Screenagers” due to its skewed presentation of technology. “[The event] was definitely eye-opening, but it was contradictory at the same time,” Sami said. For example, the film placed the blame on students for being unable to stay off their screens, but did not mention how teachers also assign homework using digital means, requiring students to use laptops and other devices.

Looking forward, Pedrick and other school administrators see Wellness Night as just the first of many technology-oriented discussions to come. “Technology is evolving so quickly,” Pedrick said. “We’ll need to have this as an ongoing event in order to keep up with all the changes that are happening.”