In our first movie, "Screenagers: Growing Up In The Digital Age," filmmaker Delaney Ruston, M.D, explored the technology-filled age our kids are growing up in and looked at the challenges of the internet, social media, video games and how they impacted the mental health and wellbeing of our kids. 

In response to some of those learnings, "Screenagers Next Chapter: Uncovering Skills for Stress Resilience," takes a broader look at the mental health and emotional wellbeing challenges that are faced by many young people today and presents solutions to empower kids, parents and schools to build emotional agility, communication savvy and stress resilience

1000's of schools, places of worship and other organizations have already screened this movie to the benefit of their communities. Read on to learn more about this movie, why the advice within is more relevant than ever and how to host a screening in your school or community. 

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Why Screenagers: Next Chapter is more relevant than ever

Released a few months before Covid-19, we couldn't have anticipated just how relevant the message and lessons of this movie would be in today's landscape.

As our nation, and the wider world continues on the challenging path to recovery and a return to normal, consider some of the challenges faced by kids growing up today…

• Continued uncertainty over Covid-19, variants, vaccines, ever-changing rules and intense debate over the way to move forwards. 
• What impact, has more than a year of disrupted education, learning loss, increased isolation and changes in how they socialize, had on our kids?
• How technology has amplified the role of news and the media — how prepared are any of us to decipher what is true and just?

These are challenging times to be growing up in and recent studies paint a picture of the worsening overall mental health seen in children post-pandemic.

There is hope, however. Mental health awareness in society has never been higher. Plus, positive recent examples such as Simone Biles or Naomi Osaka openly discussing and prioritizing their mental health have gone a long way to removing old stigmas and encouraging young people to seek help where needed. 

Screenagers Next Chapter explores openly, the topic of mental health in youth today and meets many real-world young people and families, openly discussing their stories, challenges and identifying solutions applicable to all. 

While the movie doesn't shy away from casting light on a range of difficult subjects, it was important to us to strike a hopeful and optimistic tone. This is a movie that through showing the stories of real people and considering the evidence and expert advice available, offers solutions for both young people, their parents and other support networks around them.

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Topics the movie considers: 

• Stress and Anxiety amongst young people and their emotional wellbeing 
  

• Depression in youth and treatment 

• The role of parents and schools in supporting youth 
  

• Helping youth to develop coping strategies and emotional resilience
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• The movie shows many ways parents, counselors, and educators can help teens build crucial skills for navigating stress, anxiety, and depression.

Facts from Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER include:

• Since 2011, there has been a 59% increase in teens reporting depressive symptoms
• Scientific data shows that 2+ hours a day on social media correlates with a higher chance of having unhappy feelings
• Teens say their main way of coping with stress is to turn to a screen—this is concerning for many reasons and we need to ensure they have other coping skills
• Some schools are implementing innovative programs, such as wellness clubs, where teens teach their peers essential communication skills, like conflict resolution and relationship building
• State of the art therapies, including mindfulness, exposure therapy, and behavior activation, are being used to successfully treat anxiety and depression and yet many teens and adults don’t know that these proven interventions exist
• When teens suppress emotions, research shows it negatively impacts their school work and other cognitive tasks
• Just like toddlers’ brains are primed to learn languages, teenage brains are primed for learning skills to navigate complicated emotions
• A recent study shows that when parents jump in, their stress goes down but their kid’s stress goes up
• Why it’s important to help teens get comfortable feeling uncomfortable
• Forward-thinking, concrete solutions for parents, counselors, and educators

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How to show the movie

We made the Screenagers movies to be shown in group community settings such as schools, places of worship, community groups and more. It is our belief and now experience from over 10,000 events, that communities coming together to watch, learn from and discuss our movies together, is the most beneficial to all.

For those who have previously hosted or attended a screening of our first movie, "Screenagers - Growing Up In The Digital Age", it is important to note that while some of the topics of that movie, such as social media and screen time, in general, are relevant to this movie, Screenagers Next Chapter is not a sequel, you don't need to see one to see the other. 

This movie is a broader examination of the mental health challenges amongst young people today, offering relevant, evidence-based solutions and while many hosts have shown both, either movie can be shown independently, depending on the topics you wish to explore with your community. 

We have seen all types of screening events from small group and classroom screenings - right up to large conference and film festival screenings and while hosts are welcome to tailor their event to their particular needs, the typical Screenagers event consists of a group screening of one of our movies, followed by a Q&A or discussion session right after. 

Depending on your situation, you have the option to host your event in-person at your school/venue AND we have various online options for you to run a virtual screening if gathering in person isn't possible. 

Learn more about hosting a screening of this movie here and we would encourage parents and guardians interested in having this movie shown at their Child's school to forward this to their Principals, PTA's and other relevant authorities.

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As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel