Physician Delaney Ruston spoke to Staples students at an assembly during an extended period on Sept. 22. Her speech aimed to discuss the rising addiction to social media in youth.
Ruston grew up as an only child, and both of her parents struggled with mental illness. This inspired her to make the documentary “Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia.” Since then she has published many other films, including three films about “Screenagers”: “Screenagers: Under the Influence,” “Screenagers: the Next Chapter,” and “Screenagers: Elementary School Edition.”
At the assembly, Ruston tackled issues of vaping and other e-cigarettes, which have taken advantage of social media platforms to encourage illegal consumption.
“How the economy works now is all these platforms are free but then of course they use our attention to sell us things,” Ruston said.
This assembly was controversial for Staples students, as some thought it was unnecessary.
“I thought it covered too many topics and I lost focus of the message she was trying to convey,” Ty Zitomer ’26 said.
Ruston also spoke to the parents after school hours, working to provide tools to avoid addictive substances and also prevent addiction to screens. She emphasized the capability technology has for creativity, but also the dangers that it comes with.
“Your brain power and your creativity is something where solutions are completely being made,” Ruston said. “We don’t ask you guys enough about what you guys think are ways that we can maximize the good about the tech revolution while minimizing the less good.”
