Impact Fairfield County (“Impact FFC”) held its 2nd Impactful Conversation of the 2024-2025 grant year on the topic of “Gaining Space for Mental Wellness,” exploring how peer pressure, isolation and attachment to technology are shaping children, families and local communities. The panel discussion at the Wilton Library featured Dr. Dylan Kollman, Clinical Psychologist and author of Resolving the Anxiety Dilemma, Dr. Gail Melanson, Executive Director of Mid-Fairfield Community Care Center (“MFCCC”) and Jessica Hirsch, Executive Director of OK to Delay (“OTD”). The lively panel was moderated by Maryellen Frank, Co-Chair of Events for Impact FFC.
Research shows the rapid increase in smartphone usage has led to more than 300 phone touches per hour and a sharp drop in attention span—from 2.5 minutes to just 45 seconds over the last 20 years. This shift is fueling a rise in anxiety and other mental health challenges, particularly among children and teens. With social media now delivering more information than traditional sources, young people are exposed to vast amounts of unfiltered content at a faster pace than ever before. Frank opened the discussion by highlighting the challenges faced by families, schools, and communities in addressing these issues, and asked panelists to discuss what can be done to impact change.
All three experts agreed that the technology problem is quite evident. “This is the issue of this generation,” said Hirsch, “just like using car seats and wearing bike helmets were issues of previous generations where we needed to find ways to better support and protect our children.” Hirsch explained that Ok to Delay’s mission is to educate and empower parents who are interested in holding off on a smartphone and social media during the middle school years, rather than avoiding it altogether. With 20 chapters across 9 states, their focus is not anti-technology. “We want families to focus on digital wellness, similar to how they think of the food they serve and consume,” said Hirsch.
Mid-Fairfield Community Care Center, a nonprofit agency based in Norwalk that serves over 2,000 children and adults each year, is getting more referrals from schools, teachers and parents who are struggling with more escalated levels of treatment needs. “The level of mental health needs has grown tremendously, with children as young as 8 and 10 years old having suicidal thoughts. We could hire 10 more therapists in addition to our current 30, and still not meet the volume of requests,” said Dr. Melanson.
Dr. Kollman, who specializes in anxiety and depression, is seeing a similar rise in needs from his patients, as technology allows people to withdraw and limits face to face interaction. This results in2 trouble expressing empathy and challenges reading social cues. But he explained that the solution is not as clear as everyone hoped it would be. “We must use a thoughtful, nuanced and personalized approach when it comes to technology. We want our children, especially those in middle and high school, to have varying levels of autonomy, so we must be cognizant that a stark ‘no technology’ rule might not be the best route to follow either.”
A key takeaway to tackling this technology challenge is to break it into parts, rather than all or nothing solutions. Each panelist was in favor of families taking the time to observe, discuss and review their media habits, both of their children and of themselves, as they work to find the optimal balance. “This is a tough problem that we can’t avoid,” said Frank, “but we’re all in this together to support this next generation which impacts not only immediate families but our larger community.”
The 2024-2025 grant year celebrates Impact FFC’s 10th grant cycle. Throughout the year, Impact FFC is highlighting its founders, past grantees and more on their social media channels. The grant year will culminate with a special Grant Awards Celebration on May 7th, 2025.
About Impact FFC: Impact FFC is a collective giving organization whose mission is to empower women to engage in local philanthropy through deeper knowledge and active participation in grantmaking. It unites women by pooling membership funds to provide large, transformational grants to nonprofit organizations across Fairfield County. Since its founding in 2015, Impact FFC has provided over $2.1M million in grant funding.
For more information or to join Impact FFC, please visit impactffc.org.
