Amid an epidemic of digital distraction, Santa Barbara’s Mental Wellness Center (MWC) will present Project Reboot, a three-day boot camp for high school students, aimed at combatting social media addiction.
Taught by Dino Ambrosi, Project Reboot’s founder/director, the six-hour class starts Aug. 5 at the Mental Wellness Center, 617 Garden St.
The program is designed to help participants develop skills and habits to reduce their reliance on social media and tech screen time.
Project Reboot asserts that U.S. teenagers spend, on average, more than eight hours daily on non-productive screen activities. According to Project Reboot, the research-supported program has successfully reduced this screen time by three hours per day.
Project Reboot stems from Ambrosi’s own struggles with unhealthy screen time usage while attending UC Berkeley. As an antidote to the mental anguish that arose during his study sessions, he found himself turning to his phone and social media.
He said he developed a habit loop: uncomfortable emotions and the anxiety they caused triggered mindless scrolling, wasting countless hours of his free time.
“Thankfully, I had the opportunity to intern at a startup in New York, where I observed a highly motivated group of peers who had strong management skills and the ability to control their tech engagement,” Ambrosi said.
“The result was obvious; they were much more productive and able to get their work done.”
That summer, Ambrosi concentrated on reinventing himself, deleting his social media apps and focusing on healthy eating and exercise. He also poured what he learned into developing a college course, now in its third semester at UC Berkeley, that teaches students how to control their tech engagement.
Based on the success of Ambrosi’s class, Mental Wellness Center will host Project Reboot’s Screen Time Initiative class for the second consecutive year in Santa Barbara.
“Along with Dino, we are on a mission to help the next generation build empowering relationships with technology,” said Annmarie Cameron, CEO at Mental Wellness Center. “Mass adoption of smartphones and social media has happened too quickly for education and regulation to keep up.
“As a result, teens have been thrown into the deep end and asked to navigate the online world with little to no guidance.”
Project Reboot’s Screen Time Initiative class seeks to help them reset their tech habits, reclaim their time, and regain their focus.
The class will feature two local student speakers: Dawson Kelly and Patrick Kelly, who will share how the program has changed their lives. In fact, they have also been recruited to teach the curriculum at their respective university campuses, UC Berkeley and CalPoly University.
Project Reboot’s Screen Time Initiative class is offered free to all high school students, who can also receive community service hours for their attendance.
To register, complete the form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTaBaWe8NrXVn8_CvU7iJQjqaFanvpadDs6uAqRIQuVsiJiQ/viewform.
Now in its 77th year, Mental Wellness Center strives to advance mental health and wellness in Santa Barbara County by providing three pillars of service: essential peer support and programming; mental health education; and safe, affordable housing.