Paula Poundstone will hold a press conference Friday, December 23rd to support Maryland legislation that will create classroom computer safety regulations @screensandkids

MD screen safety legislation press conference

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND Award-winning comedian, author, actress and activist Paula Poundstone will hold a press conference at Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis at 1:30 on Friday, December 23rd to express her support for Maryland legislation that will create classroom computer safety regulations.  Ms. Poundstone is active in her Santa Monica, California community, advocating for digital device limits in public school classrooms.

Delegate Steve Arentz (R-Dist. 36) will sponsor the legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session. The bill will direct state agencies to develop medically sound classroom guidelines to protect students from the documented health risks posed by daily use of digital devices: increased myopia, retinal damage, digital eye strain, macular degeneration, sleeplessness, obesity, addiction, anxiety and depression.
Ms. Poundstone, a mother of three, will share her perspective on the health issues caused by screen time and urge Maryland lawmakers to pass legislation in the upcoming session that will set an example for the rest of the country. The Maryland screen safety legislation has just received national attention in an article published by the New York Post on Sunday, December 18th:

The New York Post, Sunday, December 18, 2016

"But not all parents are drinking the screens-are-wonderful Kool-Aid — some are fighting back.

Cindy Eckard, a Maryland mother of two, is launching a grass-roots campaign to create legislation to limit screen time in schools and is testifying in front of a state Senate subcommittee hearing this month.

“I was shocked to learn that the Maryland State Department of Education had no medically sound health guidelines in place before they put so many of our children in front of a computer every day . . . The schools keep encouraging more screen time in the classroom without any regard for our children’s well-being,” Eckard told me. “Our children are owed a safe classroom environment, and right now they’re not getting one.” "

Cindy Eckard has two children who attend Maryland public schools. She has written Op Eds for both the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post advocating for the protection of Maryland students in the classroom. Ms Eckard will announce a new blog that will provide the public with detailed peer-reviewed medical research to support the need for medical oversight and statewide classroom screen safety regulations.

The press conference will be held in the On Stage room at Rams Head Tavern, located at 33 West Street in Annapolis. For further information, contact Cindy Eckard at screensandkids@gmail.com PLEASE NOTE: The event will be live streamed on Periscope. Follow @screensandkids 

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   Screen Safety Research by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd