This month, UTHC Community Services teams came together to raise awareness about screen-use. The goal was to encourage everyone to reflect on their digital habits and discuss how screens have been changing and affecting our lives.
Lunchtime radio shows on December 8, 9 and 10 talked about the effects of excessive screen-time and how it can impact early childhood development. Suggestions were made for reducing screen-time and members of the community called in to share their opinions and thoughts on the subject. Many callers mentioned that YouTube and social media is causing children to speak less Inuktitut nowadays.
On December 11th, Nunavimmiut were invited to take part in the 24H Pause Your Screen Challenge: one full day without social media, video games, streaming or without any screens at all!
We were pleased to see many people from different communities signing up for the challenge, and congratulate the two winners of a 200$ Coop gift certificate: Neevee Akpalialuk and Leanna Tauya Greig.
To help kids get off their devices for a few hours, activities were also hosted in two communities.
In Kuujjuaq: Tasiurtigiit and Ilagiilluta organized a cookie-decorating and games afternoon for families with young children, while the Youth Team hosted a screen-free HotSpot in the evening.
In Kangiqsualujjuaq: Tasiurtigiit teamed up with Ulluriaq school to host an outdoor sliding and hot chocolate activity for kids.
Some participants realized how hard it was to refrain from picking up their phone all the time, and others even gave their phone to someone else to make sure they didn’t use it at all! We are very proud of all the youth that were able to set their devices aside for a few hours or even for the entire day.
Although the Internet is a valuable and useful tool to help us stay connected, we hope that this week managed to raise awareness on the subject of excessive screen-use, and hope that we will all go into the holiday season a little bit more mindful of the time spent on our devices.
