Cracked iPod screen....?

I have an iPod touch 4g that I rather unfortunately dropped, cracking my screen. I have put up with the cracks, as they did not hinder my ability to use the device (except for when the cracks were in the way of words). I do not have enough money to buy a new iPod, nor do I have enough to have it fixed. My parents refuse to buy me a new one because I did not take care of this one, despite the fact that my iPod is several years old and can no longer play RAM-heavy games the way it used to. Raging aside, I have come across a rather serious issue with my iPod in the past few days. The screen randomly decided that it was going to mess with me by becoming ultra-sensitive, by which I mean that holding my finger about an inch above the screen will register as me actually touching the screen. This problem has occurred before, mostly during the winter when the device became cold. However, this is the summer, and my iPod somehow knows that I would like to talk to my friends and decided that wasn't going to happen. I have trouble opening apps, typing, looking at pictures, and watching movies (the last two are because the sensitivity issues make the pictures wriggle around and the movie screen either continually resize itself or close out). In the past, this has lasted for a few weeks, and then my iPod returns to normal.

So, my question is:

Is there a way to fix my screen's sensitivity problem without spending money or sticking it in the microwave? Or, is it time to give up?