"Don't be afraid of movie night."

• That was social psychologist Jonathan Haidt's message to parents at the World Mental Health Day Festival in New York last week.

Why it matters: Haidt — a leading researcher on the effects of screens on kids' attention spans and mental health — says not all screen time is equal. The real problem, he argues, is short, addictive content on screens kids can touch, like smartphones and tablets.

• "It's a solitary device, up close with a touch screen, which gives a stimulus response reinforcement behavioral feedback loop. That's what trains the kids far more quickly than you could ever train your kids," Haidt said at the festival.

📱 By the numbers: Kids' and teens' screen time is on the rise, while the time they spend socializing with their friends in person is falling.

• About 7 in 10 U.S. parents of kids 12 and under say their children use tablets, and about 6 in 10 say their kids use smartphones, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
• Stunning stat: Even among parents of children under 2, nearly 30% say their toddlers interact with tablets, and close to 40% say they're on smartphones.

💡 Reality check: Parents are under a great deal of pressure to make the right decisions for their children on technology and screens, but it's nearly impossible to avoid screens completely.

• Haidt offers a potentially helpful middle ground with movie night: "Stories are good things, and if your kid wants to watch a long story or a movie on a TV screen that they can't interact with, that's actually good."

Instead of isolating kids behind their personal screens, movie night pulls the family together — and can even spark fun dinner table conversations.

Cars drive around a bend in the road surrounded by fall foliage in the Taunus region in Frankfurt, Germany, today.