UNPLUG TO UPLIFT Webinar

Recorded November 1st, 2025
Recording available HERE

Children around the world now spend the vast majority of their waking hours glued to screens:

Perpetual screen time, both in schools and at home, is interfering with children’s development of empathy, moral judgement, and imagination.
Fast-paced games and shorts are interfering with the natural development of critical thinking skills, application, and effort.
Disconnection from one another, themselves, and from the natural world is leaving children highly dysregulated and out of sorts.
And yet this is the generation that will take the helm of the polycrisis we are leaving to them – A world of interconnected crises exponentialized, magnified, and accelerated by tech and AI.

Now is the time to pause and consider how we might better help our children develop the wisdom they will need to steward technology in the service of Life.

Speakers from around the world address the growing problem of children and tech, offering solutions and sharing initiatives being taken in their respective country.

Our Speakers
Join us this November

Emily Cherkin M.Ed.
The Screentime Consultant

Emily is leading the fight for a Tech-Intentional™ childhood. Emily works with schools, families, policymakers, and advocacy organizations to ensure the future of education prioritizes skills, safety, and relationships over screens, EdTech, and A.I. Emily is an author, speaker, consultant, and associate professor of public policy at the University of Washington. She is also co-chair of Fairplay’s Screens in Schools Action Network and the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against one of the largest EdTech companies in the world. Emily is also the author of The Screentime Solution. A Judgment-Free Guide to Becoming a Tech-Intentional™ Family (released January 2024) and creator of the UnPlug EdTech Toolkit. You can find her on her Substack, First Fish Chronicles where she does most of her writing.

Jess Kingsford, PhD
Founder and co-director of Happy Hearts Parenting

Jess lives in the beautiful Blue Mountains in NSW, Australia, with her partner and two teenage kids, … so she has plenty of first-hand experience when it comes to the challenges and rewards of parenting! Jess has a Doctoral Degree from the University of Sydney’s School of Psychology where she completed a research-based PhD examining Childhood Moral Development.

Jess has based the Happy Hearts Parenting Foundations Program on the very latest research into childhood moral development and moral psychology more broadly. “It’s just a matter of time before this fascinating area of childhood development makes greater inroads into the public domain”. Jess has worked as a research psychologist, lecturer, and tutor for the Sydney Uni, Charles Sturt University, and the University of Texas, before founding Happy Hearts Parenting. Website, HappyHeartsParenting.org

Diego Hidalgo Demeusols
diegohidalgo.net

Diego Hidalgo Demeusois is the driving force behind the OFF Movement, an initiative born from the OFF Manifesto – a text signed by hundreds of leading figures from diverse fields, which raises the alarm about the critical moment our relationship with digital technology is now facing. He is the author of Anesthestised. Humanity Under the Empire of Technology (2021) and Retaking Control. 50 Thoughts on our Digital Future (2024), both published in French and Spanish.

Diego has spent more than two decades reflecting on the social, cultural and political effects of digitalisation across the different spheres of our lives. In addition, he is an entrepreneur — founder of Amovens (the first car-sharing platform in Spain), Pontejos, and the Ballensworth social impact investment fund – an international speaker, and a member of the Hermes Foundation. He also serves as a diplomat for the Order of Malta in Morocco — and, is also a magician. For more infomation, you can visit: diegohidalgo.net

Bronwyn Desjardins
Head of EdTech for Smartphone Free Childhood South Africa

Bronwyn Desjardins is Head of EdTech for Smartphone Free Childhood South Africa and a passionate advocate for intentional technology use in education. She holds multiple international certifications, including Apple Professional Learning Specialist, Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Trainer, and has over two decades of experience in educational technology and digital wellness. Bronwyn empowers schools and families to reclaim childhood from digital distraction, championing schools as nurturing spaces for play, creativity, and authentic connection – ensuring technology becomes a supportive tool, not a substitute, for children’s growth and wellbeing. Joining from Mauritius, Bronwyn shares a globally informed perspective on building balanced, mindful learning environments.

Bronwyn Desjardin who heads up SFC-SA’s EdTech space is an Educational Technology Coach. She is also recognized as an Apple Distinguished Educator and a Book Creator Ambassador, reflecting her commitment to innovative educational practices. https://www.sfc-sa.co.za/the-movement/
https://bronwyndesjardins.substack.com/p/reclaiming-childhood-in-the-algorithmic

Theodora Scarato MSW
Director of Wireless Program at Environmental Health Sciences

Theodora Scarato MSW, is Director of the Wireless and EMF Program at Environmental Health Sciences, a special expert to the International Commission for Biological Impacts of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF), and signatory to the EMF Scientist Appeal. She has published several peer-reviewed papers and was a lead technical expert and petitioner in the successful lawsuit against the FCC, and formerly served as Executive Director of Environmental Health Trust. She continues to submit expert comments to U.S. federal agencies on issues related to wireless radiation and public health.

Stay updated with her work via LinkedIn, the EHS newsletter for the latest factsheets, science and policy news, and the ICBE-EMF newsletter for the commission’s newest scientific publications.

David Charalambous
founder of Reaching People

David is the founder of Reaching People. His background involves 25 years of consulting with multinational clients and one-on-one with individuals from all walks of life. David’s expertise includes Behavioural Science, NLP, EFT, Dynamics and Communication. David has appeared on numerous podcasts (see interviews) and presented at conferences around the world.

“We can significantly improve our communication by understanding some basic concepts. We really can find a way to challenge ideas when we know how.”

Lluna Porta
http://www.adolescencialibredemoviles.es

Lluna Porta believes our hyperconnected world and its challenges can only be tackled if families, educators and institutions work together which is why she is in two non profit organizations. First she is on the board of directors and one of 50 founding members and spokesperson for the association Adolescència Lliure de Mòbils. She is also a motherto teenagers and has been deeply concerned about her children in the digital age for many years. She raises awareness, gives talks and gathers experts to address the problem of children and tech to guide Parents and Educators of this generation. Above all, she is an educator and campaigner for the protection of children’s rights online and offline in the group Piña por la Educación Finally, Lluna is a signatory on the MANIFESTO OFF and a member of the Education working group that in September 2024 launched the School Off Campaign with the aim of improving child well-being, academic performance, and family relationships. See two of the resources she endorses for families and educators https://www.offm.org/educacion and Pacto de Famílias Adolescencia libre de Móbiles.

 

Shannon Rowan
website wifi-refugee.com

Shannon Rowan is a “Wifi Refugee” (electro-sensitive) writer and researcher, with a background in photojournalism, fine art and editorial writing. She is author of several books including “WiFi Refugee; Plight of the Modern-day Canary”. Her books offer in-depth explorations into diverse but interrelated topics including the health impacts of EMFs, modern medicine, and tech use. Her latest book; “The Red Shoes; Our Devil’s Dance with Technology and How We Can Stop it” provides insights into our current toxic relationship with digital technology and how to reverse the trend.

Robert Broad
www.lookup.hk

Hongkonger, husband, dad, and comms consultant, Robert founded Look Up Hong Kong to build a collective voice to advocate for our children. He was kicked into action by a belief that “childhood ends when you give a child a smartphone”, and he is driven to engage schools, parents and other stakeholders to champion this movement and do better for our kids. Website lookup.hk.
Sign the Look Up Hong Kong Parent Pact at this link: parentpact.lookup.hk.

Antoine Mestrallet
Lève les Yeux (“Raise Your Eyes”)

Antoine is a board member of the French NGO Lève les Yeux (“Raise Your Eyes”), founded in 2018. Lève les Yeux is an independent organization, free from the influence of the digital industry, acting through awareness-raising, popular education and advocacy. Our goal is to promote disconnection in order to better preserve human attention, and to contribute to the emergence of a more convivial, compassionate, and environmentally friendly society. Antoine also teaches at Sciences Po Paris regarding the ideologies of Silicon Valley.

Caroline Fallon
Kids Unplugged Belgium

Caroline Fallon will speak about her personal journey of awakening to ‘the issue’, teaching teenagers in Ireland (her native country), raising children in a screen-free environment and becoming active with Kids Unplugged Belgium where she currently resides.

Debra Fry
Why Die for WiFi

Debra is a Qualified Dental Nurse and now campaigner for safer and wiser use of technology. She tragically lost a child to a suicide accident when her child’s EHS symptoms were misunderstood by teachers and administrators. Instead of giving her the support and environment she so needed, they gave her detentions and refused to turn off (or hard wire) the school’s WiFi for “just one child”. Debra explained to the administrators that it would be healthier for all the children. Debra continues to work tirelessly to raise awareness of the harms of wireless radiation to all living beings, and the urgent need to better protect our children. Why Die for WiFi