Digital Media and the Developing Brain

For media inquiries, contact Jon Bleicher at jon@childrenandscreens.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Neuroscientists Explore Screen Effects on Young Brains

A public panel and research retreat will bring together the world’s leading cognitive neuroscientists, neurobiologists, child psychiatrists, and pediatricians to assess the impact of technology on pediatric cognition

NEW YORK – Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development is hosting a public panel followed by a two-day scientific research retreat with some of the world’s leading researchers and clinicians, exploring what we know and what we need to learn about the impact of digital media on the developing brain.

The public panel, hosted in partnership with Stony Brook University, will feature four leading neuroscientists, researchers, clinicians, and child health experts, presenting the latest research to the scholarly, medical, and parenting community on Long Island. Held on Thursday, March 5^th at 7 pm at the Wang Center at Stony Brook University, the evening will also provide parents and educators with an opportunity to take part in the conversation, to learn and ask questions about the impact of media use on child brain development. The evening will be moderated by Nellie Bowles, Technology Reporter at the New York Times. For more details and to RSVP, visit https://news.stonybrook.edu/oncampus/learn-about-digital-media-and-the-developing-brain/

The panelists are in town for a two-day Children and Screens international research retreat, which will advance scientific knowledge of technology’s effects on cognition, brain structure, and function and development, as well as the neurobiology of internet addiction in the pediatric population. More than two dozen participants will discuss and report on state-of-the-art research, and determine a future research agenda in each of these areas. Following the retreat, participants will produce a white paper to be published in a scientific journal; all who attend will have an opportunity to apply for an interdisciplinary seed research grant that Children and Screens will fund of up to $100,000.

Panel participants include:

Kara S. Bagot, M.D.
Medical Director, Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai-Center on Addiction Alliance;
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dimitri A. Christakis, M.D., M.P.H.
Editor-in-Chief, JAMA Pediatrics;
Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children’s Research Institute;
George Adkins Professor of Pediatrics, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, and Adjunct Professor of Health Services, University of Washington School of Medicine

John S. Hutton, M.S., M.D., F.A.A.P.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Division of General and Community Pediatrics;
Director, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center

Martin Paulus, M.D.
Scientific Director and President, Laureate Institute for Brain Research

Marc N. Potenza, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, in the Child Study Center and of Neuroscience;
Director, Center of Excellence in Gambling Research;
Director, Yale Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders;
Director, Women and Addictive Disorders, Women’s Health Research at Yale, Yale University

About Children and Screens

Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development is a 501C(3) national non-profit organization founded by Dr. Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra. Children and Screens advances interdisciplinary research, supports human capital in the field, informs and educates the public, and advocates for sound public policy for child health and wellness.