When an alien crash-lands at their community centre and opens an inter-dimensional "help desk”, four friends must team up before their community centre is over-run by monsters, aliens and robots! Each “monster” arrives in the community centre with a problem that must be solved before they will leave.
Each monster problem represents a real-world digital literacy or online safety issue that our audience may confront in their daily lives. Ninja hackers hold the calendar system hostage, rude trolls ruin the swim meet by loudly mocking everyone’s bathing suits and pirates claim artwork that doesn’t belong to them.
As word of the “help desk” spreads monsters arrive more and more quickly. Like on the internet, once the message is out stopping it from spreading is nearly impossible! The monsters are dangerous, but with teamwork and critical thinking, they can be defeated…
Computers and algorithms increasingly impact our life in intangible ways. AI filters decide if your resume goes to a human in HR, you only mentioned the Raptors to your friend in passing but suddenly you’d swear all your ads on social are for basketball games and thanks to algorithms your dog has more followers on IG than you do!
A few headlines are all we need to understand that there are people who use the internet for exploitation and other nefarious purposes. Monster Problems aims to help kids grow their digital savvy skills before they’re online unsupervised (at younger and younger ages) through a series of exciting adventure stories.
I’ve been heartbroken to read stories that lead to tragic consequences at younger and younger ages. As a new parent, I realize it will be essential to have these conversations with my daughter at an early age, in an ongoing and easily accessible way.
Monster Problems is teaching kids to look both ways before crossing the street for the digital age. We cover safety topics such as trolling and bullying, knowing who you’re talking to on the internet, how to keep your information safe and through it all enforce that if you’re having a negative or embarrassing experience share it with a trusted adult for help.
Credits:
Creator/Writer: Shannon Fewster
Executive Producer: Jocelyne Meinert
Producer: Rainy Venne
Director: Dharmali Patel
Lead Animator: Melina Caron
Storyboard Artist: Margaret Sohier
Character & Background Designer: Valentina Fiallo
Sound Designer & Re-Recording Mixer: Rosángela Hernández Gómez
Sound Supervisor & Dialogue Editor: James M. Findlay