Screen Sanity Australia

Being a leader in the fields of education and technology presents unique challenges, particularly in a sector that has historically been slow to adapt to the rapid changes of our world. We're proud to reflect back on this lovely video that offers a deeper look into what it was like to be on the spotlight panel, where we emphasised the vital role that educators, parents and community play in joining forces to prepare our kids for their future. It’s essential that we equip our students with a well-rounded skill set that includes traditional literacy, digital literacy, computational literacy, and critical thinking skills. As we navigate this ever-evolving landscape, we recognise and celebrate the importance of collaboration and innovation. Together, we can empower our educators, parents and carers, and ensure that our children are prepared to thrive in an increasingly complex world. Let’s embrace the challenge and work together to create a brighter future for our kids! 💪📚💻 #Education #Technology #Leadership #FutureReady #Collaboration #DigitalResilience #DigitalHealthandWellbeing #StartTheConversation

Out of the office today! Proud to be participating in the NSW and SA Social Media Summit taking place over two days today (in Sydney) and Friday (in Adelaide). The Summit is a huge opportunity for Australian parents’ voices to be heard before many of the country's leading experts, policymakers, academics and lawmakers at a critical time in the national debate on social media and its effects on our children. Many key community leaders, parents and youth will be in attendance. Live streaming is available and starts now! We highly encourage you to tune into all the sessions, but if you had to pick and choose these are the ones you can't miss. https://lnkd.in/g5XFU6wc 10.00am. Jean Twenge - Dr Twenge paved the way for others like Professor Jonathon Haidt and is widely considered to be the “Godmother” of our movement. If any parent is still unsure why they should delay smartphones and social media for their child, Dr Twenge will lay it all out in a crisp 45 minutes. 12.15. Frances Haugen - data scientist and Facebook whistleblower, Ms Haugen will explore how the lack of oversight over social media has harmed children worldwide.  Plus a provocation from Jessica Mendoza-Roth from our friends at Wait Mate. 2:00pm. Digital Parenting Panel featuring a great advocate and trailblazer in this space from the Heads Up Alliance founder Dany Elachi. #Communitymatters #StartTheConversation #Scaffolding #Nonprofitleadership #digitalhealthandwellbeing #digitalparenting #digitalresilience

When only 6% of Queenslanders get the recommended serves of veggies a day....it is easy to understand why Health and Wellbeing Queensland was first established - to combat Queensland's concerning obesity pandemic - and because of their effective partnerships and programs, their remit is expanding into other major areas of public health. We are so grateful to have attended the Prevention 2024 Symposium, where we heard, learned and workshopped with so many great minds in public health from across the country and world. As we heard from keynote speaker Dr Norman Swan, the greatest current public health concern at the moment is SCREENTIME. Frank Tracey so eloquently said, "communities are an oasis of resources" and we look forward to supporting H&WBQld as a go-to resource they can lean on as we look at multi-sector/multi-state collaborative approaches to establishing healthy digital health and wellbeing habits for ourselves, our young people, and the next generations to come. Thank you for an energising 2 days team Health and Wellbeing Queensland! #publichealth #collectiveimpact #BetheBlipinTheGraph #StartTheConversation #digitalhealthandwellbeing

We had a powerful experience speaking on the panel at the Youth Mental Health Forum earlier this week, hosted by the Minister of Education for Queensland, Di Farmer. Hundreds of parents, grandparents, carers, teachers, principals and young people attended to talk about the issue which Queensland's Chief Health Officer, Dr. John Gerrard, describes as the number one public health issue. Thank you to especially to 18 year old Maddie, who shared her mental health journey - and her suggestions on how we could all do better. Take away #1: It's crucial for communities to come together and have open conversations about the challenges our young people face, especially in the digital age. We need to equip ourselves with the knowledge and tools to protect our children and families online. Early engagement is key! Take away #2: As voiced by Queensland Chief Health Officer on during our panel - the most concerning trend: The curve of the rise in youth mental health challenges seems to be mirroring that of an infectious disease. And that includes the inextricable link between youth mental health and social media. Take away #3: It's time to take urgent action to address this growing crisis, and it requires multi-sector collaboration. Are we doing enough to prevent, treat, and support our young people? Thank you Minister Farmer for hosting the Forum and being brave enough to start the conversation. Thank you to all the panelists for your insights and wisdom. And thank you to all the parents who showed up, and will keep showing up for these hard conversations. Di Farmer Fiona Foxon Dr John Gerrard Ken Loftus #ScreenSanity #StartTheConversation #YouthMentalHealth #SafetyByDesign #CommunitiesMatter #DigitalHealthandWellbeing

HUGE NEWS! We are honoured to announce our partnership with The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network. The Parents' Network is a no-cost, private community for parents and caregivers bound by shared experiences of social media harm, centered on collective healing. The Parents’ Network is fighting for change until the social media companies make their platforms safer by design. One child lost, is already one too many. In addition to advocating for safer social media, The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network seeks to connect ALL parents and caregivers with resources to promote digital health. By partnering with Screen Sanity, the foundation is able to make our training and tools available to even more communities and families across the world. One of The Archewell Foundation’s core beliefs is that mental health and our collective wellbeing are paramount, a belief that aligns perfectly with Screen Sanity’s goal of helping families pursue digital health to reduce loneliness, depression, anxiety and suicide in a socially isolated society. Stay tuned for more details! #nochildlosttosocialmedia #theparentsnetwork #digitalhealthandwellbeing #starttheconversation # Tracy Foster Annie Rusthoven Gretchen King Screen Sanity

We are so excited to share this TREMENDOUS new ad campaign launched today by our telco partner in the USA, UScellular. "A phone company telling us to use our phones less? That's ironic, don't ya think?" - Alanis Morrisette. What a brave, bold step - one that we are working hard to chase down here in Australia with one of our nation's favourite telco operators. Watch this space! #starttheconversation #digitalhealthandwellbeing Fiona Foxon Tracy Foster Annie Rusthoven https://lnkd.in/gHMTy55d   A phone company telling us to use our phones less? That’s ironic, don’t ya think? | UScellular - YouTube

Screen Sanity is pleased to support one of our ecosystem partners, the Australian Gaming & Screens Alliance (AGASA) as well as regulators and fellow community organisations in providing the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society with a submission detailing the work priorities of the Australian Gaming and Screen Alliance and our efforts to promote awareness, prevention, coordinated and accessible treatment and broader ecosystem collaboration Follow AGASA's individual submission from a public health perspective: https://lnkd.in/gF3xBrYn Fiona Foxon Brad Marshall Wayne Warburton Dr Huu Kim Le

“Queensland Mums on a Mission!” We sure are! Our Co-Founders and Directors of Mackenzie and Fiona had the pleasure of talking to The Today Show's Sylvia Jeffreys and David Campbell about how to help parents navigate this new world of raising digital natives. “Social media age bans are a vital part of the puzzle...but the work has to start with parents in the home." - Co-Founder Mackenzie Forrester shares. The duo offered five key takeaways for parents to think and action, which we deep dive in all of our community conversations and parent workshops. 1. Start the conversation. With other parents. With your children. Don’t be afraid to raise questions ahead of a playdate or sleepover, "my child won't be bringing an ipad to the playdate, hope that's okay?" 2. Start with yourself. Like sponges, our kids pick up everything we put down. Or don’t put down for that matter. Like our phones. So how can you model better screentime behaviors? 3. Create a family digital health plan. Get everyone to contribute and build it together. We have great, free, resources to get you started! 4. Ride, practice, drive. We love our seatbelt analogy for your family's digital road map. Don’t just hand your kids the keys to the internet; practice and put put guard rails in place. 5. More green less screen. What else can you be doing away from screens? Nature, outdoor and unstructured play, boredom as a gateway to creativity, chores to build life skills. We hope you enjoyed watching the segment and can’t wait to share with you even more exciting news to come. Visit our website for more tools, resources and tips on how to navigate these tricky conversations. Screen Sanity Australia Fiona Foxon Sylvia Jeffreys Nine #screensanity #lookup #parenting #digitalhealthandwellbeing #stopthescroll #36months #letthembekids

Very proud of our co-Founder and Director Fiona Foxon, who has been invited to join the expert panel and speak at the 2024 upcoming i-Educate Conference, hosted by Queensland's Department of Education. The 2024 conference theme, Digital Horizons for Tomorrow’s Learners, is designed to inspire educators and school staff from Queensland state schools to embrace the transformative power of technology in education and work together to further engage every learner.  The 2024 spotlight panel's theme is....drum roll please.... Navigating the Digital Landscape: Striking a Balance for Youth Wellbeing We are so excited and proud at the Department of Education's proactive approach to facilitating this often challenging topic with school leaders, teachers, business managers, admin staff and IT staff from across the state. And very proud to help be part of the ecosystem to help solve it together. Queensland Department of Education Catherine Page Jeffery Nicky S. Michael Dezuanni Stephen Stathis Elise McCann #screensanity #parenting #digitalhealthandwellbeing #mentalhealth #lookup #ieducate2024