Should I Be Worried?
It seems like every time you turn around today, you hear stories about how smartphones, social media, and video games are negatively affecting our kids. Move beyond the sensational headlines to better understand the current digital landscape and how it’s really affecting them. With a focus on what Common Sense’s latest research can tell us about how screens affect sleep, anxiety, depression, body image, vaping, and more, this presentation, developed with support from the Child Mind Institute, will provide parents and educators with practical tips, signs to watch for, and a better understanding of how to help kids take charge of their own digital well-being.

Dana Blum, Common Sense Media, is Senior Bay Area Director, with over 20 years of experience in the educational nonprofit landscape. Dana leads the parent advice work for all school partners, and built the first teen leadership council, allowing the teen perspective to be incorporated into multiple areas of work at Common Sense. She brings deep experience in broadening nonprofits’ reach and footprint on both the regional and national levels through negotiating partnerships, building new ventures, and creating strategies for corporate and nonprofit agencies to find common goals. Dana is adept at taking nascent ideas and transforming them into practice. She graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University. Prior to college, Dana was a competitive figure skater and currently is a competitive master’s runner. She is married to Robert Blum, CEO of the biotech company Cytokinetics, and they have two grown daughters.

Andrea Pascarelli, PsyD, is a senior clinical psychologist in the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. She provides clinical evaluations, assessment and treatment to children with a range of anxiety disorders and conditions. Dr. Pascarelli has extensive experience in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), trauma-focused CBT, and parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT). She specializes in working with children with a variety of conditions including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders, stress management issues, trauma and depression, as well as individuals with complex medical conditions. Dr. Pascarelli has worked with individuals in both inpatient, day treatment and outpatient settings, as well as provided school-based support services. She has also served on the Executive Board of Directors for Washington State Psychological Association (WSPA).

*Content is geared toward parents education, however parents or caregivers are welcome to bring their teens.