The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) is inviting students in Grades 6 to 12 to take part in this year’s "Connected, Not Controlled" video challenge.
Students are asked to create a 30-second PSA video with one fact about screen use and one call to action.
The goal is to help youth think about how much time they spend on screens and how it affects their sleep, mood, and daily routines.
The challenge returns for a second year. Last year, students submitted 64 videos from 19 schools, with more than 100 participants and over 2,000 public votes.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides, Ashley Kirby, WECHU health promotion specialist, said students will learn more about positive digital technology habits.
"When to balance their use of digital devices with doing things like sleeping, face-to-face conversations with peers, reflecting on habits their habits and seeing if they are using technology in the best way," Kirby said.
Kirby pointed to a 2023 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey which showed that many local students in grades 7 to 12 were not meeting screen time and sleep guidelines.
"Over 80 per cent of the students in grades 7 to 12 are spending over three hours on screens daily," she said.
"A lot are spending time on social media, and we know because of this, they're spending a lot of time on screens, so they're sometimes being less active and not sleeping as much as they need to be their healthiest selves."
Kirby said students can submit their 30 second videos until March 31.
"On our website they can find the list of different facts. Teachers can even print it out if they're doing it as an assignment," she said.
"They can select one of the facts around digital technology use and how it affects youth and younger people, and as well as a call to action. One of those calls to action can be found on the website as well and we want them to pick at least one of each of those to include in their video to help create the messaging."
Youth judges will pick the top videos, and the public can vote starting April 27.
Winners will be announced May 7, with prizes for both students and the schools with the most participation.
More details can be found here.