I am a documentary filmmaker based in the East End of Toronto. After my grade 6 daughter began asking for a smartphone, I started having conversations with other parents and discovered many were as concerned as I was. They had read 'The Anxious Generation’, watched ‘Adolescence’ on Netflix, and also wanted to protect their kids from the addictive, distracting, and harmful nature of smartphones with their web browsers and social media apps.

Motivated by this collective concern, I brought the Unplugged pledge to the parent community at our elementary school. The positive response from families and other local schools was so overwhelming that I co-founded the Toronto chapter of Unplugged Canada, where I have helped build relationships with SickKids, Toronto Public Library, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, and other organizations that feel strongly about the importance of preserving a play-based childhood and protecting kids’ mental health in the digital age.