Shady Side Academy is hosting a free community screening of the documentary SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, at 7 p.m. in the Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the SSA Senior School campus, 423 Fox Chapel Road, Fox Chapel.

The event, which is part of the Academy's 2016-2017 Parent Education Programs series, is free and open to the public, and no RSVP is required. The film runs one hour and six minutes long and is appropriate for adults and children 10 and older.

Are you watching kids scroll through life, with their rapid-fire thumbs and a six-second attention span? Physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston saw that with her own kids and learned that the average kid spends 6.5 hours a day looking at screens. She wondered about the impact of all this time and about the friction occurring in homes and schools around negotiating screen time – friction she knew all too well.

In SCREENAGERS, as with her award-winning documentaries on mental health, Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals how tech time impacts kids' development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance. Watch the film's trailer at www.screenagersmovie.com.