Reconnect Podcast

In this episode we sit down with Kim Whitman and Sabine Polak from the Phone-Free Schools Movement. Their mission is to provide kids across the nation with the opportunity of attending a phone-free school. They are currently hosting a challenge for Highschool students, offering $300 for creating a video expressing how Social Media and Phones have affected you. Click here to learn more about the challenge! You can follow along with the movement on their Facebook and Instagram! Check out their website to get involved!

Sam Hiner is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Young People's Alliance. They do boots on the ground political advocacy on 11 campuses in the nation. Their team of directors are focusing their efforts towards the timely issue of advocating for the Kids Online Safety Act. Please click here to visit their website, where you can donate and learn more about how to get involved!

Laurie is an assistant director in the department of Hokie Wellness and has been creating and implementing college health and wellness programming at Virginia Tech since 2000. Her expertise includes sleep, sexual health, body image, nicotine addiction and treatment and of course, tech – including how social media and phones affect students’ wellness.If you work at a University and are interested in joining The Coalition for Collegiate Digital Wellbeing, register here!

Today I am joined by Co-Founders of Unplug Collaborative - the non-profit organization behind the Global Day of Unplugging Kim Cavallo and Claudia Erickson! Enjoy a spirited conversation about a human connected future!

Heath Wilson and Joey Odom founded GoAro for families to create natural un-interrupted family time. It's a box for your phone but it doesn't lock it away and restrict access, instead it charges your phone and tracks how long you had your phone in the Aro app! It is in no way about fighting phones. Aro acts as a tool to coexist with our devices in a more balanced way. Visit GoAro.com for more and enjoy the Episode!

Ginny Yurich is a Michigan homeschooling mother of five and the founder of 1000 Hours Outside, a global movement, media company and lifestyle brand meant to bring back balance between virtual life and real life. She is a thought-leader in the world of nature-based play and its benefits for children, and one of her top priorities is to inspire parents to invest in spending time outside with their children.Her 1000 Hours Outside Challenge spans the globe and many people from all walks of life look to her for inspiration as well as practical tips on how to put down the screens and get outside!You can Pre-order Ginny's book, "Until the streetlights come on: How a Return to Play Brightens Our Present and Prepares Kids for an Uncertain Future" on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Until-Streetlights-Come-Brightens-Uncertain-ebook/dp/B0BW11WHTN?ref_=ast_author_mpb

My partner in creating skate videos Daniel Prieto comes on the podcast to discuss how Social Media has changed content creation, skateboarding culture, art, and the new realm of tiktok.

Special guest Sefora (41) discusses what childhood was like growing up in the 80s and 90s. How she used to hang out with her friends and interact with her neighbors, and her experience watching the world change from how it was when she was a kid.

A good friend Izzy comes on the podcast to discuss how dating apps and social media affect her experience dating.

Sam Terrel is an entrepreneur that has inspired me to move forward with reconnect throughout the years. I participated in his college alternative educational program: Divergent U, and it inspired me to have my first reconnect event in over a year.

Special guest RobsMedia is conducting research on the common dating app Tinder. He is here to discuss his research and his motivations for this experiment.

In honor of reaching 10 episodes, Seán lays out what he thinks are the ten most crucial reasons why this generation needs reconnect.

"Fubbing" A term coined by special guest Stephanie Clark. She is conducting research for her Phd that is all about how phones impact our relationships. Romantic, Family, Friendships, etc... She mainly focuses on this concept of Fubbing, an occurence where someone's partner or family member is trying to connect with them and they are unavailable because they are using their device.

Seán explains why he started reconnect and why it is important for this generation's future.

Some of my best friends come on the podcast to discuss how Social Media's impacts on our lives in general.

Pia and I interview Alex and Emanuella. We all took part in a passionate discussion after watching the social dilemma netflix documentary at a reconnect meeting, and continued some of the thoughts on today's episode.

Zaria and I interview Jimmy and Leo, two regular reconnect members, about how social media contributes to social anxiety in our generation.

Zaria and Seán discuss some positives that phones and social media provide for our generation.

On this episode, Zaria and I talk with our guest Darnesha about her experience at the most recent Reconnect Hike.

Zaria, Pia, and I discuss some challenges that come along with having Social Media so engrained in our generation's social structure.