“The Cyber Child: Neurological, Social & Educational Implications”

 “The Cyber Child: Neurological, Social & Educational Implications” featuring 2017 Community Champion Awards

This workshop will explore the research concerning the effects social media is having both on children’s brains and on their behaviors. Neuroscience shows that our brains wire according to exposure. The wiring that takes place with cyber interaction has both positive and negative results that need to be considered for implementing strategies that support the overall well-being of our youth.

Participants will be exposed to the cyber social reality that pervades children’s lives and how that reality is shaping their still forming identities and social interactions. This generation is the first to be brought up in a world of unlimited access to information, images and social interaction. What are the implications? Just how does the cyber world affect who children believe themselves to be, especially when they can be something entirely different online than who they are in reality?

Participants will  also be asked to reflect on the hidden messages being sent with our ever-growing technological use and to think critically about how their own interactions with children may be affected by these avenues.

Guest Speaker: Chris Parrott

Chris Parrott earned her MSc and Post MSc degrees in Counseling Psychology at City University London. Parrott also holds a Diploma in Hypnosis from London University and worked in the National Health Care System as one of the first therapists for General Practitioners, pioneering the implementation of therapists at that level. In London, Parrott published articles in the Counseling Review Quarterly, chapters in various books, and coauthored the book Doing Therapy Briefly, while also acting as a media consultant on behalf of the British Psychological Society.

Since returning to the U.S., Parrott has cofounded two companies to support the self development of children and teens.