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YOUTHTHINK

“EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE BEFORE BAD CHOICES BECOME BAD HABITS”

�TO LEARN MORE GO TO YOUTHTHINK.NET

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What’s going on in the brain during screen time?

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It’s all about the DOPAMINE�

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger in the brain that helps regulate movement, motivation, reward and pleasure.

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Dopamine makes us want things. A surge of dopamine in your brain makes you seek out something or continue doing what you’re doing. It’s all about motivation.

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While humans stare into the screen with its technicolor images, their brain experiences spikes in dopamine, over and over again

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It’s not you versus your child. It’s you versus your child’s hijacked neural pathway. It’s the dopamine your fighting and that’s not a fair fight.

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How do we level the playing field?

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FIRST … NOT ALL SCREENS ARE THE SAME

TV

MOVIE

COMPUTER

GAME CONSOLE

SMART PHONE

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Types of Screen Time Viewing

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Passive Screen Time Viewing

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Active Screen Time Viewing

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Communication Screen Time Viewing

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Help me don’t shame me!

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  • Encourage a balance between screen time and activities that require in-person social interactions
  • Create screen-free times
  • Keep screens/phones out of bedrooms
  • Learn about game rating categories and informed about the games you youth wants to play
  • Model healthy use of screens and video games

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Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

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Loot boxes generate $15 billion a year revenue for gaming companies. But 90 percent of that money comes from a small group of obsessed customers, known as “whales”

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Shifting Perspectives

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  • Be curious – ask your child what they get out of playing or scrolling

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  • Ask how they feel after they are done

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  • Ask if they have ever spent money playing a video game

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  • Listen without judgement

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Helpful Lingo

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  • Lootboxes
  • RPG
  • First Person
  • Battle Pass
  • Bot
  • GG
  • Discord Mod

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  • PVP
  • Griefing/Griefer
  • MMORPG
  • Grinding/Cooking
  • AFK
  • Camping
  • OP

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  • Farming
  • DLC
  • Clan
  • Freemium
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Let’s Ask the Experts