What does hours of screen time do to the adolescent brain? How can dads help young adults choose wisely what they watch?

The ready access 24/7 to extremely arousing entertainment via smartphones makes the job of navigating children through the adolescent years much more challenging than it ever was before. Online gaming, gambling, pornography, social media, and YouTube are specifically designed to target the most vulnerable part of the brain, the reward system. The effect is to keep users hooked on their screens while they shun schoolwork and building other important skills they need to be successful adults. The adolescent brain is more susceptible to the development of mental health problems, including addictions, than at any other stage. Fathers have a significant role to play in helping their children, especially sons, choose wisely. 

On Thursday 11 March at 10am join co-founder of the Reward Foundation Mary Sharpe to learn more about the adolescent brain to be better informed in those important discussions with adolescents and the dads you work with.

Mary Sharpe

Mary Sharpe is a lawyer and Chair of the relationship and sex education charity The Reward Foundation – Love, Sex and the Internet. She co-founded the charity in 2014 with her husband Dr Darryl Mead to make the science behind relationships and sex accessible to a wide audience. She focuses particularly on the impact of internet pornography on adolescents in regard to health, relationships, attainment and law. The charity has produced a set of 7 free core lesson plans on pornography and sexting for high schools. The Reward Foundation also has a free Parents’ Guide to Internet Pornography available on the home page of rewardfoundation.org. This Guide is regularly updated. We have developed a one-day workshop accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners to train healthcare and others professionals in this area. The charity is involved in promoting age verification legislation for pornography. Mary has presented talks and lessons across the UK and internationally and appears regularly on TV and radio.

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