WWS MOVIE RECOMMENDATION - "Childhood 2.0" Documentary
This 2020 documentary offers an in-depth look at how technology and the internet have completely transformed the experience of childhood, along with some of the consequent problems faced by families.
We feel it’s important at Windham Woods to have a “No Cell Phone” policy for all students except for seniors to help them experience full days of rich social and educational exposure without the distraction of constant targeted unhealthy content.
From the Filmmakers
- Jamin & Kiowa Winans
Born in the late 1970s, we completed our formative years without much of a presence from technology. As computers became more than word processing tools, we were apprehensive about jumping into social media without understanding the consequences. Our friends call us Luddites and we have missed out on innumerable Facebook invites over the years.
In the past five years, we have spent an extensive amount of time working with kids (5 to 18 years old) and it quickly became apparent how much devices, social media, and gaming have impacted their lives. Kids now grapple with a host of issues we had barely heard of at their age: depression, general addiction, anxiety, body dysmorphia, pornography addiction, grooming, cyberbullying, suicidal ideation, and suicide.
In human evolutionary terms, this has all happened in the blink of an eye. Parents have barely had a chance to catch their breath. We spent the past year uncovering that story across the country and had conversations with parents, ER Doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists, PhDs, cybercrimes detectives, law enforcement, youth mentors, authors, tech companies, teens, and kids. Then we needed to stand up this new digital era to a control: a woman who grew up during the Great Depression. How could childhood have changed so much in such a short time?
Ultimately this film is a reflection of the world we currently live in and a resource to be contemplated. We have made every attempt to craft an honest picture of what childhood is today, kids spending more time online and less engaging in real life, free play, and autonomy. What are the effects on the next generation's mental, physical, and spiritual health? Childhood was more or less unchanged for millennia — this is Childhood 2.0.
— Robert Muratore
I was born months before the Apollo 11 mission transported the first human beings to the moon’s surface, and 50 years later the phone in my pocket has over 100,000 times the processing power of the computer that helped put them there. Technology has evolved at an exponential rate during the course of my lifetime, and with it came unprecedented access to information and human connectivity. While exhilarating in many ways, it’s also overwhelming and frightening, especially for parents like me who are already noticing signs of screen addiction in my pre-kindergarten children.
The journey in making this film has opened my eyes to our ignorance as parents — myself included — and the perils children face every time they connect to the internet whether it be through a browser or an app. Legislators, law enforcement professionals, and parents alike are having an incredibly difficult time keeping up with the times, and are thus are inadvertently exposing children to myriad dangers. Hopefully, this documentary will shed some light on the incipient cyber landscape and act as a call of action to parents everywhere. It has already changed my own habits with smart devices, and more importantly, my approach to being a father.