Speaking Events

The effect of screen-based technologies on children’s cognitive, social and emotional health used to be the elephant in the room.  Now it is a Goliath. Everyone knows about it; yet the giant prevails. Despite ever-mounting clear scientific evidence that play in nature is a fundamental developmental need, technology continues to be disproportionately promoted as beneficial for children. It is no longer enough to steer children back to nature-based play, parenting and education. We need a counter attack of knowledge. This session will be exactly that: based upon the goals, concerns and interests of attendees Dr. Mari Swingle will take a tour from the clinical trenches debunking many of the arguments / red-herrings of the tech for kids movement.  This will be an interactive session (top down & bottom up). It may include how and why i-tech hijacks and alters brain development (e.g., basic brain function, arousal & vestibular system); what specific emotional and cognitive skills (e.g., self-soothing, reading emotions and facial expressions) are being permanently lost when children no longer interact in real/natural environments alone or with others.  Participants will leave armed not just with pro-nature projects but with counter arguments for those that seek to stall them.

Dr. Swingle’s research is showing how a lot of our excessive or otherwise inappropriate use of screens is affecting brain function and behaviour, --and she wants to remove confusing and ambiguous language from the "screen time" conversation. In this presentation Dr. Swingle will explore otherwise complex and specialised concepts in language that is clear and easy to understand.  She will present the science of screen time in simple terms to help assist parents, teachers, and healthcare practitioners make informed choices and decide for themselves what aspects of screen-based technology to accept, embrace, or reject, and what aspects deserve further consideration.

Keynote Synopsis:  Screen use is slowly but surely eclipsing our relationships with both the physical world (nature) and each other.  No where is this more evident than in children. In this pivotal lecture, Dr. Mari Swingle will explore the effects of screen-based technologies on the developing brain, behavior and the evolution of our species. –And the related imperatives of children maintaining a relationship with nature not only for ourselves but for the health of the planet. Her explicit concern is our assimilation of technologies in parenting, education and play long before we understand their effects on our mental and physical health, socialization and development. To this end, she will examine the emergent state of science and the evidence of social, emotional and cognitive alteration in infants through adolescents. She will also explore and challenge the counter argument promoting the early use of technology. Her mission: Informed choice. To help us remain masters not servants to the technologies we bequeath generations to follow. Facilitation Synopsis: A panel of 6 Childhood Health Experts will lead an interactive discussion on the 'state of modern childhood'.  

This session will explore changes seen in the brain (EEG), and behavior, of clients with excessive or otherwise uncomplimentary relationships with interactive screen-based technology (e.g., gaming and other forms of systematic addictive like constant connectivity), and present helpful therapeutic intervention strategies.    The session will help clinicians define what excessive usage is and how it may vary from client to client based on culture, environment, epigenetics, chronological age, age of introduction, and state of immersion. The session will explore a wide range of effects including vestibular destabilization, mood deregulation (anxiety, depression, conduct, hyperarousal, etc.) as well as cognitive, social, and neurophysiological alterations (e.g., attention deficits, insomnia, peer bonding, emotional cue reading, erectile dysfunction, etc.).  Presenting symptoms, EEG signatures, and treatment outcome variations will be explored in tandem with both case and group studies. Attendees should leave with an understanding of the most successful protocols and strategies for positive therapeutic outcome.

The congress is an international meeting point for everyone working with education for environment and sustainable development or which have an interest in the field. WEEC 2017 is as such an opportunity to learn more about the latest in environmental and sustainability education, to discuss with people from all over the world, to share your own work and to learn from others. We are expecting participants from a wide range of countries. Are you maybe a researcher, educator, student, decision-maker, NGO or media working with or having an interest in education for environment and sustainable development, or are you just curious? Welcome! Examples of participants:

• Researchers and educators at universities
• Teachers teaching all ages
• Students
• Folk high-schools
• Local, regional and national government agencies, municipalities
• Officials from international organizations
• NGOs
• Managers of parks and protected areas
• Private companies who are interested in environmental and sustainability issues and in education
• Media/press

The congress will discuss the role and importance of education for environment and sustainability at all levels; both in higher education and for lower ages.

A Webinar Exploring the Effects of Method and Medium Inherent in the Use Screen Based Devices. Screens and interlinked screen based devices are everywhere, arguably now completely central to all modern life; including work and production, scholastics and research, social interaction and play. As expected, any such mass innovation brings magnificent and most welcomed change, but so too the unknown. In this Webinar, Dr. Mari Swingle, will present her research on the overt connections of excessive usage of screen based devices to depression, anxiety, ADHD, and obsessive compulsive behavior as well as the more subtle or ignored effects including systematic effects of screen based devices on our arousal templates and base neurophysiology affecting our health, intelligence, creativity, development, sexuality and socialization.

i-Tech On the Brain: Exploring the Effects of Method and Medium Inherent in the Use Screen Based Devices Screens and interlinked screen based devices are everywhere, arguably now completely central to all modern life; including work and production, scholastics and research, social interaction and play. As expected, any such mass innovation brings magnificent and most welcomed change, but so too the unknown. In this free lecture, Dr. Mari Swingle, will explore some of the more subtle or ignored effects of the digital age including systematic effects of screen based devices on our arousal templates and base neurophysiology affecting our health, intelligence, creativity, development, sexuality and socialization, and thus humanity itself. “It’s not if we do or don’t use i-tech it’s ‘how’ and ‘why’ we use it” i-Minds

i-Minds: How Screen Life (Cell Phones, Computes, Gaming and Social Media) Are Changing Our Brains, Our Behavior and the Evolution of Our species. Come and explore the 21st century, the millennia of i-technology; iphones, pads & pods, computers and all screen based devices.  Though select readings and concepts from her new book i-Minds, Dr. Mari Swingle will give us food for thought on the influence of i-tech on children and families, friends, and lovers, work and learning, development and yes, brain function too. She will leave you thinking on what we should embrace, what we should reject, and many aspects of the digital era that are timely to debate.

For adults over 40, problems do not stem from if they do or do not use digital technologies, but rather how and why they do or do not use them. It is arguably different for children. For those born directly into the digital world there appear to be substantial differences in cognitive, creative, and social-emotional development and related brain wave architecture associated with usage patterns. This webinar will explore the current presenting differences, some of the suspected causes, as well as some of the first concrete changes emerging on the EEG. The webinar will conclude with suggestions on how and when (and when not) to integrate the use of i-technology to ensure healthy development of children and youth.