Rock, paper, scissors.

One, two, three, shoot!

Gotcha.

Dang.

Welcome to the first episode of “More childhood, please.™” A show by kids for kids.

It’s part of Akron Children’s mission to help make the most of your time as a kid – with fun ideas, challenges, and ways to spend time with friends and family.

My name is Lily.

And my name is Rhys.

We’re your hosts for the next hour as we explore an important topic of childhood – screens and screen time.

This is “Screen Time.” Like everything, screens have benefits and downsides.

And maybe how we use them makes all the difference.

I mostly use my phone for social media and playing games with my friends and family.

And I mostly use my phone for talking to my friends, playing games, and watching videos on social media, also.

Have you ever had your phone taken away or lost or broken?

I have.

I, one time, forgot about my phone in my dad’s car in just the back pocket seat and couldn’t find it for a whole year.

Oh, and how did you feel not having your phone for that long period of time?

It was hard at the beginning.

I couldn’t, like, call my friends or anything, but it eventually felt pretty refreshing because I started, like, almost noticing things that I hadn’t before.

That does sound like you feel a better refresher to the actual world.

Yeah.

What’s the longest that you’ve gone without your phone?

The longest that I’ve been without my phone was probably when I let my sister borrow it.

But, it probably died.

And when my phone dies, my sister, she just leaves it wherever she was sitting.

But the thing is, Rhys, was she sitting in my dad’s sock drawer?

Because we found it in the, on the bottom.

So, we’re trying to figure out, was she trying to hide it or … Yeah.

Yeah, it was confusing for a second, so we figured it all out.

Do you think you could go a whole weekend without it?

What if you had to share it with your entire family and had no apps?

Me personally, I don’t think I could do that.

Or my sister.

But my parents, they are responsible adults, so I’m sure they can handle that.

But we’re going to find out exactly what that looks like within an entire family.

This is the Flip Phone Challenge.

The Swain family has two parents, six kids and one grandkid.

They all agreed to spend a weekend with their phones locked away.

And just one old flip phone to share among all of them.

Which, I’m not sure this is a phone.

I’m pretty sure this is just an ancient relic.

Yes.

I’m pretty sure this should belong in a museum.

Yes.

But the thing is, the box is locked and we have to get to it.

Oh.

Check your pockets.

See?

I’ll check it.

Oh.

Oh, look I have the key.

Yeah.

Let’s see if that works.

Pop this out.

See here.

We have action!

Breaker breaker.

Do you copy?

Do you copy?

Wait.

Oh.

It flips open.

I thought it was a walkie talkie.

How do you even send a text, do you think, on this thing?

I have no idea.

How do you record videos?

I don’t know.

I think I would have to take a whole history class on that.

Do you think you can just imagine using these as one of your regular phones?

Not really, but we won’t have to.

We’re gonna watch the Swain family trade their smartphones for this one.

Here is the Flip Phone Challenge.

Hey.

I’m Jordan.

Hello, I’m Kingston.

Hi, I’m Armanie.

And I’m Ailynn.

I’m Daniel.

I'm Troy.

Hi, I'm Brenda.

I'm Chase.

And I'm Brandon.

And we’re the Swain family.

Ohhhh.

What’s in the box?

What’s in the box?

Just pull the top off.

Oh, I thought it was.

So here’s two notes.

We’ll read those when we get done.

OK. Here’s the box we’re gonna be putting our phone in.

Oh, it’s a real lock box.

OK. It’s not bad.

It’s a timer.

Two cameras.

Sorry.

OK, OK. It’s not bad.

Pens.

A whole bunch.

Oh, to probably write down the numbers.

Uhh.

That's the phone.

Oh, the flip phone.

Oh.

Is that a camera on there?

Yeah, it’s a camera.

OK. OK. We’re taking pictures.

I’m vloggin on there.

OK.

The flip phone number.

Flip phone number.

And then a gift card.

Oh, wow, thank you.

OK. And we have some paper to write down, uh, whoever’s numbers.

“Hello Swain family.

Thank you for participating in our flip phone video challenge for “More childhood, please.™” We’re excited to have you in our first episode.

Your challenge is for the whole family to spend a weekend without smartphones.

So you’ll have to say goodbye to your favorite apps, social media platforms and more for a couple of days.

But don’t worry, you’ll be given an old-school flip phone so your whole family can still make texts and calls.

We will also provide two video cameras to record your weekend.

This may be a challenge, but we’re certain not every moment will be challenging.

Good luck and remember to have fun!

Sincerely, your friends at Akron Children’s.

P.S.

There’s a mini challenge on the next page to help you get started right now.” Oh, all right.

“Ready for a little challenge?

You’ll notice there is a clear vault for your phones.

Before placing them into the vault and locking it, we’ll have a quick two-minute challenge.

Read the instructions below and get started.

Pull out the small timer.

Give everyone a pad of paper and a pen.

Set the dial on the timer to two minutes.

You have until the timer goes off to write down any phone numbers you’ll need from your phone.

Send any last messages.

Scroll through any apps and order some takeout.

When the timer is done, everyone has to place their phones in the vault and lock it up.

On your mark.

Get set.

Go!” My phone.

It’s all the way over there.

Hey, you don’t have a phone.

Oh shoot, I just called her, I just called her, I just called her.

I just called her.

How are we even gonna text on the little phone?

We can text on that.

You got to press the buttons.

We got to learn how to text on that.

My mom.

I remember those days.

Dad.

Who else?

Who else?

Who else?

I can’t search now.

That’s crazy, because I call my dad all the time.

Now I got to look their number up.

Thirty seconds.

What?

Hold on.

Nuh uh.

Yes it is.

It’s 30 seconds left?

Yes it is.

Why you lying?

Is anybody going to be hungry?

Oh.

Yeah, that’s a nice call.

What about the Chinese place down the street?

Oh, I’ll look them up.

I will look them up.

That Brandon always calls.

Yes.

No.

Five.

No.

Four.

No.

Three.

No.

Two.

No.

One.

Oh my gosh.

Are you serious?

I didn’t hear it.

Pens down.

Pens down.

Pens down.

No, I didn’t.

I didn’t like, name my numbers.

I just wrote them down.

Did anybody put hibachi down?

No, no.

OK, stop the timer.

Oh.

OK. Come on, Jordan.

Who me?

You first.

Look at it, opened right up for you.

Both of your phones, too, both of them.

I heard you have two phones.

Power off.

Oh!

Why you powering off?

My phone gonna die anyway.

Mine’s gonna die anyway too, so.

Do I got two phones?

I want mine ringing in there.

He thought he was going have – oh, he’s got a second phone!

Oh.

Oh!

You thought you were slick!

Goodbye phone.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Troy, you might need your ID.

You might need your ID.

Oh, yeah, you’re going to need that.

Your driver’s license.

Well, yeah, your driver’s license.

You’re going to need that.

Wow.

This looks crazy.

OK, Chase.

My baby.

Your baby?

That’s your baby?

Kingston, where your phone?

Oh.

Yeah.

There you go.

Must not forget.

That’s a lot of phones.

Yeah.

That’s eight phones.

I’ll hang on to this.

Oh, no.

I don’t think it’s locked.

It’s locked.

Is it?

No it’s not.

No it’s not.

It’s not locked.

It’s got a little wiggle room.

Back up.

I’ll hang on to the key.

I might be able to slither a little.

Put a little hanger in there.

No, no.

OK.

So.

Now what?

That mini challenge seemed stressful.

It really did.

But, let’s ask a few questions to see how the family is feeling about it.

How many phone numbers did you write down?

I got to write down two and a half.

I think I wrote four.

I wrote three.

I wrote like five.

I wrote six.

Uhh, four.

I think I wrote down three.

I didn’t write none down.

OK. What was the most important number that you wrote down?

I would have to say probably my girlfriend.

Mine too.

My number one man.

We always together, so, had to write him down.

What do you use your phone for the most?

I use mine most for social media.

Keep in contact with people.

Stay up with new trends.

Stuff like that.

When the kids, call me to pick them up and drop them off.

Yeah, the GPS.

Games.

Recipes.

Probably just to stay in contact with people and make sure, I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

Looking up the kids, seeing their location.

Communication.

Staying in contact with people.

Everything.

Yeah.

We use our phones for a variety of things.

Who uses their phone the most?

Brandon.

He’s always on his phone.

Probably say him.

My brother Brandon.

Every time I walk in his room, he on his phone.

I think it’s me.

I can agree.

You go to wake up Brandon, he’s on the phone.

Like, in his sleep.

So.

Would you say you’re addicted to your phone?

For sure.

Most definitely.

Yes.

I am definitely addicted.

I don’t think so.

Is it good?

No.

No.

Am I?

Yeah.

Not gonna lie.

Who is going to have the toughest time with this challenge?

Probably Troy.

Probably Troy or Mom.

I think Troy.

My wife will.

No.

No.

Not me.

My mom don’t think about it, but she, she uses her phone for everything.

Yeah she do.

Looking up locations, seeing where we got to be, keeping the schedule right, making sure we gotta be where we’re supposed to be.

She – she use it a lot.

So it’s probably gonna be tough on her.

Probably.

I think my sister.

I think Troy because he’s always out and about.

So, I’m pretty sure he needs his phone more than anyone.

Troy will have the most challenging time this weekend.

I know I’m going to have a challenge time this weekend.

I vote myself.

Is there anything you’re looking forward to this weekend?

Spending time with the kids and then them not being on electronics, they actually get to pay us some attention.

Spending time with my family, for real.

Yeah, bonding time.

Bonding time.

I feel like we don’t spend as much as we can, so this will bring us closer together for sure.

Undivided attention and some more family time.

Peace.

It’ll be like a nice break.

Peace, too.

Finna win every board game, so.

Yeah, we’re all competitive.

Yeah.

Every board game.

Stay in tune, stay in tune.

Stay tuned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Well, I’m excited to see how this weekend goes.

Let’s take a look.

Say cheese.

It's not bad.

No?

It looks very vintage.

One more.

Mom, there wasn’t enough space on the screen for you.

Oh.

Let me try to take a selfie.

Oh no.

No.

Oh, my gosh, look at this.

Pops, this is my new number for the weekend.

You got to call me back.

Daddy’s boy.

That’s the first person that got the number.

Put it on speaker.

You calling your girlfriend?

How do you do that?

Push the middle button.

This your girlfriend?

Call somebody.

Your call has been forwarded.

Oh, you got red buttoned.

No, no, we finna call it again.

No, you ain’t important.

No, do not disturb, do not disturb.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Second chance.

Second chance.

Oh!

Third time’s a charm.

Third time’s a charm.

It’s going to do the same thing.

People don’t know the number.

She’s gonna answer.

Maybe.

Please.

Hello?

Oh.

Somebody’s calling.

Somebody’s phone.

Oh, she’s texting you?

Yeah.

I think.

At least it’s is clear.

We can see, like, “Who texted me?” Your call has been forwarded.

Oh, look.

She really did text you?

Oh.

She did text me.

She texted you.

She’s like, “Is that you, Brandon?” Hello?

Hey, mom, it’s us.

Hey grandma.

Hey.

Hey grandma.

What’s up, grandma?

Hey, save this number if you need us.

Alright, this your new number?

Yeah, for the weekend.

So they’ve got the TV cameras there?

Yeah.

Yeah, mom.

OK.

I just wanted you to have the new number in case of anything.

All right.

Thanks a lot.

OK. You’re welcome.

Talk to you later.

All right, grandma.

First hour in.

Light work.

Piece of cake.

I’m finna breeze through this.

Same.

I’m already bored.

It only been an hour.

I don’t want to do this no more.

Challenge over.

Why?

Why are we even doing this?

Why?

I’m drawing.

I don’t even draw.

I haven’t drawn since middle school.

These people are crazy and this challenge is driving me insane.

I can’t do it no more.

I can’t even call it quits because I can’t – I have no access to my key.

I keep reaching for my phone, like, and it’s not there.

I keep reaching for my phone in my pocket.

But hopefully, like, we spend a lot of time together.

I’ll probably do some cleaning or something.

When I’m stressed, I clean.

So, I might do a little cleaning.

Or just, we might play board games or stuff.

I thought you was good.

That’s game.

Let’s go again, go again.

Oh, I need that.

Just give me my old card.

It getting real, now!

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

That’s how you deal.

Two sets.

I’m hitting there.

Oh my gosh she has a game plan.

I’m hitting there.

I won.

Oh my gosh.

Me and Jordan are gonna try to get our phones out.

Let’s try the card with it.

We just slide a card right here.

Watch now.

Honestly, I feel like my phone thin enough to come right out.

If we get our phones out, y’all, we get to have them.

And do not tell our parents!

Oh.

It’s not coming out.

It’s because, it’s because, it’s because this phone is right there.

If I, no, my phone is right there.

Oh.

OK. We tried.

We failed.

Might try again tomorrow.

We might if we get out of trouble.

Try to sneak.

Day one actually is going, well went, pretty good.

Right now everyone’s kind of just in their areas just chilling out.

I think it’s going very well.

I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings because tomorrow will be our first full day without a phone.

I’ve been just, like, cooking and baking and playing games.

Just trying to get my mind off things, you know, and just staying busy.

I feel like this is going to be a walk in the cake as long as I stay busy.

So, I’m excited to see what happens tomorrow.

Good morning, y’all.

Today should be interesting because we’re about to spend the whole day without a phone together.

I just woke up.

I’m about to shower and do what I gotta do.

But, we’ll have to see how, how today has to go.

First morning without the phones, already checked for it like eight times.

Usually I check my phone once I wake up – any notifications, see if people texted me.

Couldn’t do that.

First morning.

Just got done slicing Kingston up with a little fresh haircut.

He needed it.

Definitely needed it.

Had to get him together.

Ain’t nothing else to do, so, you know.

No?

Well I guess I didn’t get him together then, but, yeah, I need to get myself together.

Right now, we just getting ready.

To start the day.

Trying to plan some stuff for today.

Me too.

Just to keep us occupied and busy.

And little, too.

Ailynn, too.

Hey, don’t do me like that.

Had my little midday walk to, to practice.

Didn’t have my phone either, so no AirPods, no music.

On the walk back, no phone, no AirPods, no music.

Then shoot around, it was boring.

No phone, no music.

So.

So we’re in the car right now.

We’re headed to this buffet.

We’re headed to this buffet because everybody’s hungry and we don’t even have a phone to play music.

Which is crazy.

I can sing for us.

Let me hear a song.

I don’t know Oh, you don’t even know.

Oh.

At least it’s beautiful outside.

Yeah, it’s beautiful.

Real nice outside.Well, we’re headed to this buffet right now.

We’ll get back atcha.

So we just arrived at the buffet.

We’re waiting on the other half of the family to get here.

We have no way to communicate to them to see if they’re here.

And it’s a lot of cars in the parking lot.

So, I guess we’ll just have to walk around and wait for them to pull up.

Looking up directions so we could figure out, well, looking up a location so we can go eat, without our phones is kind of difficult.

This is crazy.

See you when we get there.

So, guys, we’re at the buffet.

We’re walking in with the family – whole fam.

See the box of phones.

Box of phones right here.

We walk on in.

Nice little plate.

Smooth.

We so used to being on our phone while we eat.

You miss your phone?

Having no phone really brings out your creativity.

We found a way how to play music off this.

If this just fell, all of our phones are cooked.

So, guys, we currently lost the phone – currently lost the phone.

Can’t find it.

We don’t know if Brandon took it to work.

Or if we just left it at the restaurant, so.

We about to drive to Brandon’s job to see if he has the phone, to see what time he get off of work.

So we was going to call his job to see what time he get off tonight.

But we can’t.

We don’t know what time Brandon gets off for work today.

On our way to pick up Brandon from work.

Not sure what time he finishes because we don’t have a phone.

So yeah, about to go and see what time.

I may be early.

I may be late.

We’re gonna find out now.

Are we late?

Yes.

We didn’t have a phone to contact you.

Oh, my God, you guys, it’s dark in there.

Do you have the flip phone?

Yeah.

I didn’t know I had it.

Oh, we found the bandit.

I didn’t know.

You left us at home with no phone.

I didn’t know it was in my pocket.

We was trying to call your job.

We were gonna call your job.

I told Troy 9.

But we didn’t have no phone.

I told that to Troy before I left.

Troy said 9:10.

And Troy said that he didn’t know what time.

What?

Where’s the phone?

Received it.

You done moved in, huh?

I’m so frustrated without my phone right now.

I can’t check my bank account.

I can’t buy nothing.

I can’t order nothing.

I can’t go nowhere.

I don’t know what to do.

Can’t look up nothing.

Can’t check the sports scores.

We depend on our phones for too much.

Here you go.

It don’t work.

I can’t even call my mom because I don’t know her number.

I needed some eggs from the store.

You should’ve called me.

I, I couldn’t.

Now I got to go back out to the store.

In the rain.

In the cold rain.

Because I couldn’t get a phone call home, from home.

It’s your go, Papa.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

I needed a six to send you back home.

Two.

One.

Two.

How are y’all doing?

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

I forgot that I got a phone.

One.

Two.

Three.

You forgot you had a phone?

It seems like the family still had a fun weekend without their phones.

Yeah, but let’s ask them about their weekend before they get their phones back.

What was the biggest surprise this weekend?

This is gonna sound kinda bad, but one thing that surprised me that I did a lot without my phone was I was – I was around my family a little bit more.

When I have my phone, I’m out and about or I’m always doing something.

But without my phone I was around my family more and bonding.

The hardest thing I surprised was going out to eat without, uh, being on your phone.

They started to, move into each other’s rooms, especially their sister, and it was like one big slumber party.

We interacted very well with each other.

The conversations that we had were very fun.

Some of them were a little frustrating towards the end because, you know, emotions are a little bit high, boredom’s kicking in.

The biggest surprise I would say, is how it bring out each other’s creativity.

We started drawing and stuff like that on paper.

We usually don’t do that, but that was something that bring out, like the inner child in all of us.

How did not having your phone make you feel?

Going without my phone really made me feel, like, anxious.

I’m so used to it being in my left pocket.

It made me feel very at peace.

It was a nice break for me.

I was a little more productive, but I was doing a little more around the house, probably a little more cleaning.

I was a little more active.

Normally the phones are ringing, they’re getting a message, they got to go, they stepping out the room.

But, it really, kept us together.

What did you miss the most?

I missed talking to my friends without my phone.

So not knowing the time was challenging.

I didn’t know it was that important.

Probably, like, calling people and contacting people because me, I’m always on my phone.

I’m always socializing.

I’m always on the phone with somebody talking.

I noticed, like, when I go out in the mornings to do my runs or my errands, I don’t have my phone to do – to use the apps that we depend on nowadays.

Did you have any nice moments without your phone?

Everybody in the room at the same time getting along and just interacting with each other.

Everyone was kind of paired up a little bit.

Without our phones, we kind of feel like we, like, need, like, a little company or, you know, just being around one another.

Jordan kind of, like, moved in my room for the weekend.

Chase and Kingston were kind of sleeping out on, sleeping on the couch, you know, camping out.

So I feel like that was kind of something that was, like, kind of memorable.

Because if we had our phones then everyone would be in their own space, not really being bothered by one another.

Earlier today, we played a card game, got real competitive – even though I was winning for like, like always – but, got real competitive and I was just yeah, it was fun, fun time.

What are your thoughts on screen time?

I think screen time should definitely be limited.

You should have like a limit, like limit yourself to screen time so you could be more productive during the day and you won’t just be obsessed with it.

So, I think we depend on all electronics too much.

Electronics done took over our lives, for real.

Limitation on your screen time is really healthy.

It’ll bring us back to reality.

I think we do depend on it a little too much.

It takes away from the outside world.

So when you’re on your phone, everybody is on their phone, there’s things are going on around them and everyone’s not paying attention to what’s going on around them.

Would you ever do this challenge again?

I wouldn’t go another weekend without my phone.

I could, but I wouldn’t go another weekend without my phone.

Me being me, no.

Like, I wouldn’t wanna do it.

But if I had to, yeah.

It wasn’t too bad.

I wouldn’t go another weekend without it.

This challenge kind of opened my mind up a little bit, and I feel like we should do it more often.

You know, when we’re doing family activities or something like that.

I think locking our phones in a box is a very good idea, and I would highly recommend it.

I would go another weekend without it because I’ve missed everyone, everyone’s growing up, and it was fun being together.

So we had a lot of moments together.

You all ready?

That’s mine.

You’re grabbing my phone.

Oh, sorry.

Oh thank God.

Flip phone in the box.

Lock the flip phone in there.

Oh, there we go.

“More childhood, please.™” Bye!

Thank you to the Swain family for giving up their phones and spending a little more time together over the weekend.

Rhys, what was your favorite moment?

My favorite moment was probably when they all walked into the restaurant carrying the box of phones.

I loved that.

What was yours?

My favorite moment probably had to be when they first locked up their phones.

Oh yeah.

And they’re writing down all the phone numbers.

Yeah.

Do you think that your family could do this challenge?

No.

Honestly, no, my family would not survive the challenge.

I don’t think mine would either.

Who in your family would not last at least 10 minutes without their phone?

I definitely think my older brother, Kai, he’s always on his phone.

I don’t think he could last five minutes without it.

I don’t think either me or my dad could survive without our phones.

Not even like for five seconds.

We can’t survive without them.

How would you stay in touch with your friends if you didn’t have a phone?

The way I would stay in touch with my friends if I didn’t have my phone, is that I go to the library after school.

So I always talk to them and play around with them.

Yeah.

What about you?

I go to ballet every night.

So, I’m there with a lot of my friends almost every night.

So, I’d just be there all the time.

That’s cool.

And is it hard enough to talk to your friends when you do have a phone?

Because, you know, sometimes you can misunderstand a text message.

Totally.

Yeah.

I, sometimes I do.

With text it’s very easy to, like, misspell things and, I like to call more than I do text because I feel, I feel like I can misunderstand things a lot easier when it’s over text.

Yeah.

A person will text me, but I don’t understand what kind of tone they mean, so then I call them and am like, “What do you mean by this text?” Do you think that’s easier to avoid in person?

I think it’s easier to avoid in person, definitely, because when you’re right on the text, like sometimes, like, your internet might cut out and you, like, someone might not get your text or, you know, I just think it’s a lot easier in person.

What do you think?

Yeah, I think it is easier in person to talk to people because you actually know their tone when they’re talking to you instead of you try to figure out, “What do they mean?” You know?

All right.

Well, now we’re gonna take a short break for a moment of childhood.

High five.

High five.

High five.

My birthday house.

Oh.

Whoa whoa whoa.

Look.

Look.

My eyeballs are going to come out!

We hope you enjoyed that moment of childhood.

Now, let’s see how screens have become such a big part of our lives.

They’re how we stay in touch, connect with people, learn life skills, and even learn how to negotiate conflicts.

This is the Short Movie Challenge.

We asked a group of teenage friends to make a movie.

They didn’t have a lot of rules for this movie.

It just had to be a couple minutes long, needed a plot, characters, a setting, and not a whole lot else.

And we have not watched this yet, so we’re going to watch it right now.

Ready?

Ready.

This is the Short Movie Challenge.

I wonder what this is gonna be like.

I’m, I’m nervous.

You know, I think it’s gonna be like, especially these are teenage boys, they’re probably gonna come up with something very silly.

I bet.

Where it’s going to make sense – something that doesn’t make sense – but it’s gonna be like, so, you know, wild, that it will actually make sense.

All right, let’s watch it.

Let’s see.

Bigfoot.

Five-minute special.

OK. Let’s see.

I think these are our main characters.

Oh, that sounds fun.

That does.

That “Bet.

Adios!” Ohhh.

Bigfoot.

OK, so we know Tyler and Jack.

It’s burning!

Take the marshmallow off!

It’s burning!

Oh.

What’s that?

I don’t think a squirrel sounds like that.

It said, “Aragh.” He lost the marshmallow.

It just fell into the ... You lost your marshmallow to the fire.

Oooh.

Oooh, not went missing.

Oh.

Oh.

That’s not good.

Oh!

Oh my God.

Oh!

Oh, no!

What?!

Very crazy storyline right now.

Oh, no!

He just got taken, too.

Oh no.

Oh.

He got caught!

Oh, I think that’s Bigfoot.

I think it's too.

It's one of one of those movies.

Oh.

That’s so funny.

Now they’re playing football.

Oh.

Oh.

He don’t play.

Oh.

Why’d he fall so dramatically?

Oh!

How many shots did that take?

Yeah.

How many?

I wonder how long that took to perfect that.

They’re going holiday shopping!

He’s scared.

So hilarious.

They became best friends!

They became best friends.

That’s so funny.

OK, so there was Lincoln, Luke, Jack and Tyler.

Tyler as Tyler.

Jack as Jack.

Luke as Luke.

And then Lincoln as Bigfoot.

That was – wow.

Yeah, I wonder how they came up with this idea.

I’m trying to figure out, how many shots did that basketball scene take?

You see how far Bigfoot was in that shot?

It was clean.

It said swish.

There was no rim, no nothing.

Yeah, I don’t know how they got that.

That must have been hard.

I cannot play basketball.

Three million takes, I bet.

Should we watch the bloopers?

Let’s do it.

How do we zoom this in?

Ahhh!

Jack lost his phone.

If only we had a leaf blower right now.

This phone brings friends together.

Team work.

Got it.

Lincoln found it.

Bang!

Bang!

Bigfoot knows the forest!

Bigfoot knows the forest!

I have an itch, guys.

Ayeee.

Go boom.

Hold up.

Do it again.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Thumb war.

My tiny thumb.

Woo!

Oof.

One, two, three and four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

So, that was … interesting.

Yeah.

What was your favorite part?

My favorite part was probably when they all woke up in the woods and Bigfoot was standing over them and went, “Hi.” “I'm a lonely Bigfoot.” My favorite part probably had to be when they were sitting at the campfire and the guy just left his marshmallow in there and it was cooking and it was cooking.

I remember it.

And it was cooking!

It just fell off the stick.

But he didn't even care about it!

It looks like they had a lot of fun making this.

Makes me wonder, are there ways screens can bring you and your friends together?

Well, yeah, screens do bring me and my friends together, because there’s usually, like, a bunch of us on a call and we’re just playing games.

What about you?

I love, you know, playing a game with my friends on my phone, you know, every once in a while.

But as kids, we know some of the benefits of phones and screens, as well as the downsides.

Next, we’re going to hear from some experts on the topic.

But first, we’re gonna take a short break for another moment of childhood.

We’ll be right back.

Say that again.

(Babbling) What are you talking about?

(Babbling) Makenzie.

(Babbling) We have Dr. Michael Redovian and Dr. Kristen Stefanski with us from Akron Children’s.

Welcome, doctors.

Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourselves and what you do for Akron Children’s?

Sure.

So I’m Dr. Stefanski, I’m a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Akron Children’s.

So that means I see kids when there’s a question about their development or learning or behavior.

And I’m Dr. Redovian, and I’m one of the child and adolescent psychiatrists.

Do you guys know what a psychiatrist is?

Yeah.

You do?

It’s someone who sort of works with feelings a lot.

Yeah, feelings, worries, behaviors, that kind of stuff.

Whether that’s talking about it or sometimes even giving medicine for it.

So, Dr. Stefanski, since our episode today is all about screens, we wanted to know if you talk about them with your patients and families.

Yeah, that’s a good question.

So, that is definitely something that we talk about quite often with patients and families.

You know, we all – adults and kids – spend a lot of time on screens and there are lots of fun things to do.

But it’s important for me to know about kind of how screens are being used at home.

So when I’m talking with kids, I’m asking about how much time they’re spending on their screens.

What type of content they’re seeing on screens, and also where they’re viewing that content.

Because even though there are lots of fun things that, that we access on screens, we also know that if it’s too much or if there’s certain content that’s not the right type of content, that could potentially have a negative impact on things like development or sleep, as well.

And kind of like Dr. Stefanski said, I want to know a lot about what my patients are looking at, what they’re engaging with on screens, whether that’s video games or apps or, you know, whatever.

And I also want their parents to kind of be aware, because we know that the more that you guys can share what you’re doing with your parents or, you know, the adults in the house, the better off it’s going to be for everyone involved, because then they don’t have to worry about what you’re doing.

You don’t have to worry about trying to hide stuff necessarily, and everyone can kind of be on the same page.

Yeah, totally.

What’s a safe age for kids to start using screens and why that age?

Another good question.

So, generally we think that around age 2 is when it’s OK to start introducing kind of a limited amount of screen time.

And that’s because, kids under 2, particularly kids under 18 months of age, really don’t understand screens and can’t understand what they’re seeing.

So starting around age 2, a limited amount of high-quality, educationally focused content is OK and is best when viewed together with a parent.

Yeah, I would agree with that.

And I think that as, as kids get older, you can start introducing a little bit more screen time.

So, you know, let’s say around age 6 or so, we would start saying, hey, about an hour a day, you know, maybe up to two hours as they start getting closer to being a teenager.

And it’s important to remember that that’s not necessarily schoolwork, right?

Because we know that you guys have to do work on the computer and that kind of thing.

And we don’t want that to count as screen time, per se.

That being said, you know, sometimes you guys are on screens all day and then you come home and you want to be on more screens, and that can kind of get a little overwhelming for all parties involved.

So we just want to make sure that it’s not becoming a problem, and that it’s not kind of taking over your whole day.

What were some positive moments that stood out to you in our first challenge, where we let the family share one flip phone?

Yeah, I think that, just seeing them kind of come together and start doing things together as a family, I mean, it was almost immediate.

They, they realized, “Hey, we don’t have our phones, so we got to do something,” and they started playing a board game.

And they were just able to kind of connect as a family again, which is so important for kids, adults, all parties.

Yeah, I agree with Dr. Redovian.

So they did a lot of things that forced them to be more creative with their time, right.

We know that when you aren’t spending as much time on screens, that even if it feels boring at first, it really forces you to be more creative.

Maybe try something new, stretch your brain in different ways than you would otherwise.

So even, for example, when they were trying to break into the box to get that phone, they were using problem-solving.

They were communicating with each other, right.

They were doing all kinds of different skills to really try to solve that problem together.

Are there any activities, habits or rules they use that could be helpful for other families to try on their own?

Yeah.

So I think some general rules of thumb are that, you know, spending time on screens isn’t a bad thing.

But we want to make sure that it’s never interfering with things that are even more important than that.

So we know for young kids and even for older kids, having that opportunity to interact with the grownups around them, with other kids, is so important.

Those back-and-forth communications and interactions are hugely important for a child’s development.

And so we want to make sure that screen time isn’t getting in the way of interacting with family and friends.

We want to make sure it’s not interfering with sleep.

And also we want to make sure it’s not keeping kids from being outside and being active and moving their bodies around, because those are really important things too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think that sometimes the rules around, you know, screen time can help with that connection.

So the more you talk about it, the less scary it becomes, the more open it is and the, the better off things are for the relationship.

I also think that some families decide that they’re just going to put their phones down for dinner and have a nice meal together and actually talk to one another, and that can become kind of a routine and just a nice little tradition to continue with.

What positive things do you see about how screens were used in the Short Movie Challenge?

So I liked that they had to use their, their screens to shoot that movie.

They had to do, you know, to, to talk to each other and, and collaborate to really create something that was really cool.

So I think that the use of these, of screens, can be helpful if they’re used in a positive way.

Is there anything you saw in the challenges that kids should try at home, or any tough moments you could offer advice on?

From the challenge, we saw that there was, even though the challenge where the family gave up their phones, that was really hard for all of them, right.

But there were also some benefits.

I mean, we saw how that changed their interactions and, the new things that they were trying out.

So I think that’s a wonderful challenge for families to try at home, even if it’s not quite so long.

Just thinking about, you know, coming up together as a family with a plan about, are there times that we’re going to kind of protect and have this be our family time, and it’s going to be a screen-free time and see that, what that does as far as interactions and opportunities to just play and be together.

Yeah, because I know that, sometimes, like, using screens can really, like, help because, like, sometimes if you’re on, like, a long drive and there’s … you can’t really play a board game or do anything like that, you can do, like, a, like, a game that all of you can play on screen.

So I was just thinking, how different usages of your screens can actually really benefit family time.

So.

Definitely.

You know, I think that there’s, there’s use, utility to screens.

So, you know, you guys can sit down and play video games together.

And that’s a family – a family fun game thing.

Yeah.

But, I think that something from the videos that stuck out to me was being bored.

I mean, if you guys don’t have access to your, to your screens, do you get bored?

Sometimes.

Yeah.

Do you like it?

I mean, sometimes because sometimes it’ll force me to go and find something.

True.

Yeah.

Sometimes.

Like, my first, my first instinct when I’m bored is, let me go talk to my brother, see if he wants to do something.

Yeah.

My first instinct when I’m bored is probably to go start bugging my parents to see what they’re going to do.

Mom, I need something to do.

Yeah.

What, what, what do you want to do today?

Yeah, there you go.

But I think that, that it’s OK to be bored sometimes, because that makes you go and seek something out that isn’t, you know, just a screen or just, you know, something to kind of mindlessly scroll through.

It makes you be creative and it makes you, you know, find some other hobbies and things that you might like.

Yeah.

What advice do you have for kids and parents watching this show?

Some of the things that we would hope people would take away would be, again, not all screen time is bad, but we want to make sure that it’s appropriate and safe.

It’s always best when done together as a family.

So whenever the parents and guardians are able to kind of co-view together with kids, that’s always best.

And coming up with a plan that everybody is comfortable with so that you can get all of the good things out of screen, all of that, you know, opportunities for communication and for fun and engagement, but also making sure that we’re limiting any kind of potential harms that can come from screens.

Yeah, I would agree with that.

I think that, the other piece of, of it is to really just again, going back to that communication, have that plan in place so that everyone is kind of on the same page, so that kids are held to a similar standard as parents.

Right?

Because if you’re a kid and your parents are telling you, OK, you’re not allowed to be on your phone, and then your parent is scrolling all night, right?

You guys are going to sit there and say, well, why do you get to be on your phone and I don’t?

And, you know, yeah, it’s because they’re the adult in the house, I guess.

But I think that having some of that, you know, equality and that understanding is really important to, you know, have those connections.

Yeah.

Now we want to know about your screen usage.

What is your average screen time on both of your phones?

And be honest about this.

So I actually looked before because I knew that this question was coming and I’m like, OK.

Uh oh.

So I’ll be, I’ll be honest, mine is about five hours.

But to be fair, some of that is like reading, you know, and work stuff, exactly, yeah.

So I also checked for you guys and mine, at least for the past couple days, was between an hour and two.

But sometimes it’s more than that, sometimes it’s less.

OK, so now, we have a very important question for you both.

It’s, “Would you rather?” Uh oh.

So would you rather give up your phone for two days or scroll on social media for two days straight?

Oh, I would for sure give up my phone.

Yeah.

Hard same.

That phone is going into a safe, into a closet, out the window.

We’re giving up the phone.

Not out the window.

Well, it’s in a safe.

It’s fine.

Would you rather film yourself trying a crazy recipe or a dance from social media?

I would do the recipe because I like to cook more than I like to dance, and I’m a little awkward, so.

I’m going to give the dance a try.

I’m gonna be brave and give it a try.

Yeah.

Well, would you rather be part of a social media celebrity family or live like a pioneer with no internet?

I would not do well with being filmed all the time, I don’t think.

So I would be a, I would try my best at being a pioneer.

I would do poorly at both things.

But, if I had to pick one of them, I would probably go with the pioneer thing, even though I’d probably not do all that hot.

OK. Would you rather eat this candy that’s been in my pocket all day, or eat a totally brown banana?

Whooo.

I’ll do the banana.

Make banana bread with it.

There you go.

Exactly.

What’s wrong with the candy?

Yeah, I'm gonna take the candy.

Yep, I’m going to take it.

Yeah.

It’s wrapped.

Yeah.

It might be melted, but we don’t know what else is in his pocket.

Would you rather play one of us in a video game or do a handstand for two minutes?

Oh, I’ll try to take you on in a video game.

See how it goes.

Yeah.

Yeah, I have trained with the best of them, I, I think I’ve got this.

All right.

I have one more.

Would you rather not have your phone for a year, or have a flip phone for the rest of your life?

Ooooh, that’s a good one.

You know, I would, I could, I can handle a flip phone.

I would take the flip phone.

Really?

I agree, I would take a flip phone.

It’s just going back about, you know, 15 years or so, I would take the flip phone.

And I also have one more.

So, would you rather record yourself trying to do a crazy stunt, or would you rather not be able to leave your house for a week or two?

Oh.

I’m gonna do my best with the wild stunt.

I got to ask, how wild is the wild stunt?

Very wild.

Jump through a flaming hoop.

Yes.

No.

Not only that, when you jump through the flaming hoop, there’s gonna be – there’s gonna be, like, a pool that you have to jump over.

You have to jump far enough that you don’t fall into it.

Yikes, OK. Full of sharks.

Full of sharks?!

Man, I’m going to get … I’m going to be in my house for two weeks, no matter what.

Cause I’m going to get hurt.

Got a pool of sharks in the backyard.

Right?

I would try the, try the stunt just to see if I could pull it off, but, yeah, I’d probably end up getting hurt.

Yeah, I think I might need to change my answer.

I might need to stay home.

Well, I think we covered a lot of helpful topics for parents and kids.

Thank you, doctors, for joining us today and sharing with our viewers.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you so much for having us.

We’ll be right back, after a quick dance break.

We had a great time today talking about how we use our screens in our daily lives.

There are lots of benefits to using phones and screens, but we also have to find a balance in how much we use them and what we use them for.

Right.

We still need in-person interactions and times away from our phone too.

If you have any ideas on how to use your phone less and spend more time with your family and friends, or other challenges you’d like to see, message us now on Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks for watching today.

We’ll see you on the next episode.

Bye.

You want to play with those cameras?

Yeah.

OK. Oh, yeah.

It’s got some action right here.

Hello.

Smile.

Smile for the camera.

You’re on video.

Hello, everyone.