Screens, Students, and the Search for Belonging

The Forum on the Green explores one meaningful theme, inviting experts, storytellers, and neighbors to join us in honest conversation. Our inaugural series is titled “Belonging in the Age of Loneliness,” a topic that resonates across generations, backgrounds, and life experiences. We hope you’ll join us as we learn, listen, and grow together.

Screens, Students, and the Search for Belonging

On March 3, we welcome a panel of Morristown community members and educators to explore how digital devices and online social platforms are shaping the lives of children and teens. Today’s technologies offer incredible opportunities — yet they can also fuel social withdrawal, anxiety, and digital dependency that hinder healthy growth.

Our community experts will share what they’re seeing in local schools, how they empower students to push back against digital overuse, and what practical strategies students and their families can adopt. Together, we’ll examine how the online world can both erode connection and create new avenues for belonging — and what it takes to help young people thrive in an age of loneliness.

Panelists:

• Mark Manning | Principal, Morristown High School
• Dr. Jennifer Giordano | Director of School Counseling and Mental Health Services, Morristown Public School
• Yesenia Cardona | TRAIL Program Clinician
• Adia Harris | Cornerstone Family Programs
• Richard Schwartz (Moderator) | Retired Public School Educator

Belonging in the Age of Lonelineness

Many of us experience loneliness or social isolation at some point in our lives. Moves, job changes, health challenges, divorce, loss, or distance from loved ones can quietly chip away at our sense of connection. For others, the constant pull of digital devices—social media, gaming, endless entertainment—creates the illusion of connection while keeping us at arm’s length from meaningful relationships. Over time, these experiences can subtly erode our wellbeing and widen the gap between the connection we desire and the connection we actually feel.

The Presbyterian Church in Morristown hopes to explore this growing reality by inviting speakers with lived experience, insight, and expertise to help us better understand the roots of this loneliness: its causes, its impact, and the ways we can begin to address it both individually and as a community. Throughout the season, we will host three conversations, each approaching the topic from a different angle.

Doors open at 6:45 PM EST

Parking at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown

• Street Parking (Metered): Find PCM parking around the Green (S. Park Place, N. Park Place, or W. Park Place), along South Street or Speedwell Ave
• Garage Parking (Paid): Find PCM parking in our neighboring parking garage Headquarters Plaza Garage at 52 Headquarters Plaza (entrance on Water Street).
• P arish House Parking (Free): Limited parking available at 65 South Street, Morristown.
• On-site Church Parking (Free): Limited parking found behind PCM is reserved for handicap/special needs parking.