Advocacy
Advocacy document
In the early genesis of Project Heads Up, the team drafted an advocacy document addressing potential improvements to existing national healthy policies.
The advocacy document posits the exacerbated use of screen time from the accentuated reliance on technology following the incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Project Heads Up calls upon both healthcare (Government Agencies and Healthcare Professionals) and non-healthcare (Educational) institutions to engage in screen use guideline promotions. A wide breadth of support from the aforementioned bodies of institutions will ensure parents, caregivers or other stakeholders’ abilities to effectively manage screen time of children.
Project Heads Up has presented and discussed our advocacy document with various institutions in Singapore, such as the Health Promotion Board (HPB), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, National University Hospital, Singapore College of Paediatric and Child Health, and Singapore Paediatrics Society. Further talks are now underway with these organisations to advance collaborations regarding screen use.
To read more about our advocacy document discussion, please click here.
Public Outreach
Educational materials
Project Heads Up was supported by KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital to design and distribute leaflets and posters regarding screen use in their paediatrics and antenatal wards. In the materials, subjects touched on include recommendations for healthy purposes and durations for use of screen time and positive family bonding activities as an alternative to screen time.
Available in both English and Chinese, these leaflets found around KKH are free for the public to bring home. If you would like to view the softcopy version, click here.
Webinar
About the event
On 21st August 2021, Project Heads Up hosted a webinar supported by KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Our speaker, mentor to the project, was Adjunct Assistant Professor Mae Wong. In the webinar, she weighed the positive and negative effects screen time has on children, provided guidelines to screen usage and offered practical and achievable guidelines to regulating screen time in children.
The webinar attracted over 80 parents who came with plenty of questions pertaining to the topic. Presently, it has garnered close to 400 online views, with the count continuing to rise. Click here to watch the recording of the webinar and learn what was discussed together.
Summary of video
“As screen use has become part of daily life, poor screen use habits can have a detrimental effect on the development and psychosocial well-being of children. Parents play an integral role in setting healthy screen use habits in the home environment and family lifestyle. Adjunct Assistant Professor Mae Wong, Senior Consultant at the Department of Child Development, KKH, shares practical information for parents to establish healthy screen use habits with young children, and recommended replacement activities to support their health and development.”
Survey findings and conclusion of event
Pre-webinar and post-webinar surveys were distributed and compared to assess the effectiveness of the webinar. From the results, Project Heads Up is heartened to report that participants are generally more confident in the following aspects:
Limiting child from excessive screen use
Ensuring proper use of mobile device during periods of exposure
Ability to curb bad habits in children regarding screen use
Finding alternative activities for children to participate in to reduce screen time
Social media campaign
Did you know, you can find Project Heads Up on Instagram and Facebook? We make use of the platforms to spread awareness of our cause, publicise our events and conduct our educational campaigns!
Our social media introduces to you a wide breadth of topics regarding the issue of screen use, with alternatives and even concrete examples on how to turn Screen Use into a beneficial activity instead! Project Heads Up also teamed up with Shirleen from @thelearningplaybook for a series of posts where she explains to us the relationship between children throwing tantrums and confiscation of their screens. Parents or caregivers facing this, if you empathise with this struggle then this series on our social media is something you do not want to miss!
The team is extremely satisfied with the rich content produced for our social media campaign - we are confident and excited that the campaign is informative and will help parents and caregivers to better tackle this issue of screen use for their children’s benefit!
If you enjoyed our social media campaign and would like to see more, or have topics you would LOVE for us to explore, feel free to reach out to us on our Contact us page! Let us know your thoughts and our team at Project Heads Up will get to work!
Screen Free Day 2022
Completed!
What is Screen Free Day 2022?
Screen Free Day 2022 is an international collaboration amongst medical students from AMSA Singapore, IFMSA Thailand, AMSA Hong Kong, and AMSA Philippines. Together, many children around the world will be staying away from electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, and TVs. Instead, everyone will learn how to spend a fun-filled day without these gadgets. At the end of the day, we want you to tell us about the interesting and new things you did today!
It will be held on the 18th of June, lasting the entire day! Don’t worry if you and your family aren’t available on this day as we will be keeping the competition open till the 18th of July.
So remember, mark out your calendars and get ready to have some fun!
Why is Screen Free Day 2022 happening?
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), (sedentary) screen time is defined as “time spent passively watching screen-based entertainment (TV, computer, mobile devices)” and excludes “active screen-based games where physical activity or movement is required”. Excessive screen use among young children below 5 years of age has been associated with impaired cognitive and social development.
Bearing in mind the effects on children development, the team here at Project Heads Up feels passionately about curbing the detrimental effects. Through the induction of Screen Free Day According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), (sedentary) screen time is defined as “time spent passively watching screen-based entertainment (TV, computer, mobile devices)” and excludes “active screen-based games where physical activity or movement is required”. Excessive screen use among young children below 5 years of age has been associated with impaired cognitive and social development.
Bearing in mind the effects on children development, the team here at Project Heads Up feels passionately about curbing the detrimental effects. Through the induction of Screen Free Day.
How can you join Screen Free Day 2022?
Anyone and all are welcomed to be a part of our Screen Free Day 2022! Simply set aside some time have fun with us away from our electronic screens. We encourage all members of the family, regardless of age, to join in and take this as an opportunity for a day of family bonding. No need to register!
We are also organising a competition for the event for interested participants. At the end of the day, simply show us how you spent YOUR screen free day through a poster, poem, video or any other means and email it to screenfreedayintl@gmail.com. We are so excited to see the creative ways you spent Screen Free Day 2022! Creative entries stand a chance to win cool prizes! Submissions close on 18th July.
If you are planning to participate in the event, do complete our pledge at the bottom of the page!
In addition, Project Heads Up has created “My Screen Free Diary”, an incredible tool for children and parents to embark on the journey to healthier screen use. The Diary includes many useful features such as parenting tips and suggestions, and mini-goals that you can complete with your family members. These fun activities could also be a part of your Screen Free Day 2022!
How do I win a prize?
Show us how you spent YOUR screen free day through a poster, poem, video or any other means and email it to screenfreedayintl@gmail.com by 18th July!
We are looking out for submissions with:
Creativity in the use of multiple mediums (eg. poem, pictures and videos)
Relevance of the product to how you spent your Screen Free Day
Quality in time and effort
Reflection on how you felt and your learning points gained from Screen Free Day in your masterpiece!
What are you waiting for? It is time to get creative!
Prizes will be announced soon! Do head over to our Instagram and Facebook pages for updates.
Upcoming Activities
Screen Free Day 2023
Screen Free Day is a day for children across the world to put aside and refrain from using their mobile devices. Children are given the opportunity to embark on quizzes, spend time with their family in creative ways and submit creative reflections to stand a chance to win a reward! The first iteration of Screen Free Day was held on 18 June 2022 and was hugely successful. We will be holding Screen Free Day again in 2023. Read more about the inaugural event at this page!
My Screen Use Diary
One new material that our international team of medical students from Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines is producing is our Screen Use Diary. Inspired by the concept of Primary School student diaries, our Screen Free Day Booklet is a month-long tracker for children to record their daily screen use. The booklet is equipped with structured ways to record the hours and ensures children are able to reduce their screen time. We believe that parents would find this especially useful as well. Our booklet is meticulously designed, having included Tips of the Day, a calendar and a section for reflective writing. Space is allocated within the booklet for parents to leave comments, for children to play colouring games and to embark on small quests and objectives. The team at Project Heads Up is hopeful this element of self-directed learning would be a strong feature in the booklet to promote the cultivation of good habits in young children. Booklets will be distributed by our partner institutions, and you can also find a soft copy of it here.
Inclusive educational campaign for special needs children
Project Heads Up intends to extend our campaign’s reach to that of children with special needs. We truly see plenty of value in putting together an inclusive education campaign for special needs children because we believe children with neurodevelopmental conditions struggle more with managing their screen time. In the following months, Project Heads Up is eager to work with our contacts to conduct our outreach and curate campaigns accordingly for different groups of special needs children.
CONTACT US
Project Heads Up is eager to expand our reach and resources. We are happy to collaborate with those who share a belief in our cause of adopting good habits regarding screen time consumption in children. We are strong advocates in benefitting from regulating screen time exposures. If you are interested in our cause and would like to collaborate, please feel free to reach out to us.
proj.headsup@gmail.com
screenfreeday@gmail.com
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