Director of # SeenNotScreen campaign talks about the aim of the innovative new project

This initiative from the Business Consultancy Newby Core #SCREENNOTSEEN address the important issue of how screen time can effect us and can leave us with less time for actual face to face communication. Highlighting the significance of 'the human connection' in a way which is light and accessible is at the heart of the cause. The Director of Newby Core - Scott Newby, has given an insightful interview to M.M. (Midlothian Madam) explaining the motivation and reasoning behind this campaign and what it aims to communicate.

#SeenNotscreen is a great initiative! Can you give a little bit of back ground to what inspired this campaign?

Thank you! We are very passionate about improving mental health. Having two young children, we are acutely aware of the impact of screen time – be that phones, TV or tablets. #SeenNotScreen was inspired by the poem, ‘Put the kettle on mate’ which Scott wrote. We are very passionate about promoting positive mental health and believe in the importance of human contact. The heart of the campaign is this human connection and actually seeing someone face to face, rather than communicating through technology. It is so good for our mental health to spend time with loved ones and people we enjoy being around. You can’t get a hug from an iPhone!

Mental health today still has a stigma attached unfortunately. Campaigns and raising awareness are crucial to reach those with difficulties – what are you hoping to achieve from #SeenNotScreen?

Absolutely and it’s great to see so many people opening up and talking about it now. It was interesting to read a recent BBC article where Prince William said just three years ago he couldn’t get a celebrity to come on board with the Heads Together charity. Now we see some sports personalities and TV stars speaking up and raising awareness, which is great! The more people in the public eye who can ‘normalize’ mental illness by sharing their own experiences the better. #SeenNotScreen is our way of both helping raise some awareness, but also to encourage people to take action. 2018 was a positive year for mental health awareness, which we now need to evolve in to understanding and action.

We were thrilled to see so many people get involved with #SeenNotScreen, from Scotland to Australia and back!

Technology is advancing and it seems everyone is on social media a lot. Tackling what seems like an obsession is no easy task! Have you had positive feedback from readers and people who maybe want to make changes to their screen habits?

We had so much positive feedback from people saying how it really made them stop and think, and realize just how much time they spent on their phones. We have certainly changed our usage dramatically – particularly around our kids. For example, we now do all our social media first thing in the morning before the kids get up – and make a conscious effort not to look at it again until that evening. It’s been a revelation!

One example of feedback we received was from a lady we had never met who said the campaign inspired her to just take in her surroundings and chat to others on her bus commute to and from work, as opposed to staring at her phone. She said the experience was liberating and so enjoyable.

I read on the site that people are checking their phone every twelve minutes! That equals a lot of time which could be spent on face to face conversations – why do you think there is such an appeal to choose screen time over actual real time contact?

It’s a huge amount of time! I think convenience is probably the main reason. Everyone leads very busy lives now and it’s so much easier to send a quick text to check in with someone than actually meet up, which is really sad. Also, on social media we can portray the image of the life that we want to portray. I also think a lot of it now is habit, or even an addiction. We have spoken to people who said they actually feel an urge to check their phone even when playing with their kids or having dinner with a friend.

What do you think the connection between screen time and mental ill health is exactly?

There is new research coming out every day about the impact of screen time on our mental health. And whilst the actual impact of screen time itself is still being researched, I am sure there are scientific reasons as to why this is bad for our health. There is no doubt in my mind that things like cyber bullying, lack of ‘likes’ on Facebook and perfect body image pictures create a feeling of inadequacy in people. I think social technology has made us often look for validation in the eyes of others, who we may have never even met.

I also look at this from a different angle, in that it is not just the act of screen time itself, but the loss of human interaction. As human beings we are wired to need human connection – as we have less of this, the potential negative impact on our mental health increases. I think about the small village I grew up in. There were six pubs, everyone attended church and the children spent all day playing football outside together. This was in the 80’s & 90’s when I was a young child and it wasn’t about drinking or religion, it was about community. Simple as that. People went to these places to spend time with other people. This same small village now has one pub left open (which always seems to be quiet) and attendance at community events like church has significantly decreased. I believe this is largely due to technology. I am not saying technology advancement is a bad thing, far from it, but we need better education on the importance of balanced life of technology and human interaction.

Personally I feel very aware of the instant gratification which screens can bring – do you think there is a reason to be concerned about losing some basic communication skills such as waiting, pausing, assessing and processing information?

That’s a really interesting point. Information is so readily available. To give a silly example – how often do you sit watching a TV program and say “What show were they in again?” and instead of having a laugh and trying to remember – we look to Google for an immediate answer. And then often start flicking through other things as we see we have notifications on our phone.

I absolutely think it can have an impact on communication skills, which is quite worrying. In the not so distant future, we will have only generations who never remember a time before the level of technology we have now. Again, technology can be great for our learning, connectivity and enjoyment but it is a different type of learning and communication. I think we are already seeing the impact this can have on basic communication skills. A couple of examples that come to mind, 1) the group of friends out together all sitting on their phones not speaking to each other is a fairly common sight these days, 2) what is the first thing we do if the person we are with leaves the room for a minute, for example, a toilet break when out for dinner? We instantly check our phones, I know I do. We do not take time to just pause, reflect and enjoy our surroundings.

M.M. thank Scott Newby (Managing Director for Newby Core) for this explanatory and in depth discussion. More information can be found about #SeenNotScreen @ www.newbycore.co.uk/seennotscreen