Elle Petrucco
About me
Hi everyone! My name is Elle Petrucco and I am a graduate student at SUNY Albany (graduating December 2025). I live in the Central New York area and am aspiring to be an elementary school librarian. My undergrad work was done at Onondaga Community College in Humanities and Social Sciences and then at The College of Saint Rose, where I majored in History. What drew me to becoming a school librarian at the elementary level specificially is that I really believe that this is a formative time in children's lives when it comes to their relationship with literature. The right kinds of interactions with librarians can cause children to not only learn that they can feel safe to be themselves in the library, but ideally, this can also cause them to want to create these kinds of spaces for themselves and others elsewhere outside of the school. Literature can teach us the best lessons about self love, inclusion, the importance of tradition, different cultures, and compassion and empathy for those who we consider to be different from us. Like other forms of media like books, TV shows and movies, and music, having a choice in the books that they read can give young children a lot of confidence and a sense of strength in their own self identity. I am so excited to have chosen this as my career. When choosing a topic for this guide, I wanted to choose something that is relatable and also significant to me, and I've seen first hand the impact of both what lack of screens can do for children, as well as the consequences of too much screen time. For example, as a babysitter and a substitute teacher, I've seen how our children have become reliant on screens and how harmful this can be for them. Not only does it make them anxious and give them issues with self regulation and coping skills, it also causes them to become very distracted and not be able to focus when there is a lack of screens. However, as a camp counselor, I've seen the opposite effect in action. When children don't have the option to have screens in front of them 24/7, they have the chance to develop different parts of their identity, become more confident and competitive (in a healthy and positive way), they have more opportunities to be creative, and they are much more inclined to become a team with other children and laugh and have play with their friends and other children, which are all things that they should be doing. This guide is intended to be something that allows for undergrad psych students to see the dangers of too much screen time on children, as well as what we can do about it and how we can also use it in a healthy way.
Intro.
Hello everyone. This comprehensive guide is intended to assist those who are enrolled in a Psych program who are doing a project on the effects of screen time on children. This guide will cover topics such as the psychological and mental effects of screen time on children, how screen time effects children's behavior, and strategies for teaching children better habits for their screen time. It discusses the psychological, mental, physical, and social effects that too much screen time can have on children and teens and describes better ways to balance screen time for young adults. It also touches on the types of content that we can use for our children and young adults that are less stimulating and slower pased and therefore more beneficial to their development, instead of causing a permanent negative effect on it. This guide will contain descriptions of both books, articles, and videos that will hopefully provide a framework for a successful and efficient research process for a project of this nature. This guide is important due to the range of content and material that it provides in order to make the research process more efficient and altogether more significant. A lot of it comes form a psychological perspective, but a good amount of it also comes from Pediatricians and child specialist as well, which allows for a much deeper wealth of knowledge for users benefit.