Youth now spend more time with their friends online than in person, leading to a generation who are more connected than ever before.

However, according to Dr. Jean Twenge, an unprecedented rise in levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness indicates that they are actually feeling more disconnected.

Dr. Twenge is an internationally recognized psychologist and researcher on adolescence and technology and the author of more than 140 scientific publications and books, including iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and National Public Radio.

On May 14th, Dr. Twenge has been invited to speak as part of the annual Betty and Bernard S. Shapiro Family Lecture Series. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be of interest to parents and their children to better understand the effects of our smartphones on our families, relationships, and behaviour.

The following day, Dr. Twenge will be giving a workshop to professionals as part of the Pearl Leibovitch Clinical Day. This professional workshop is open to educators, school administrators, counsellors, social workers, and psychologists as well as professionals in the technology field who are concerned about the roles we play in this digitally connected society.

To learn more about Dr. Twenge’s upcoming lecture and workshop, click here.