Healthy Screen Habits Podcast

Summer and technology are 2 things that typically create a perfect quagmire for a digital slippery slope. Not this year!! Listen to one of our favorite moms on this episode to get tips for summer music and healthy screen habit success.  Listen wherever you get your podcasts and visit the show notes on our website to gain access to this valuable resource!  

Brain rot, TikTok, and shrinking attention spans are making headlines in the media as we try to figure out the best path forward in education.  Sarah Shepherd dedicated her PhD work to studying the long-term effects of overstimulation on developing brains.   Learn about new study techniques Gen Z is employing to help them focus, as well as how economic disparity is contributing to the digital divi...

Trigger Warning: This episode isn't easy—but it's essential. What do screen habits have to do with real-world harm? More than we want to admit. In this powerful conversation, we sit down with the CEO of Safenest to unpack the uncomfortable truth: what kids see online can shape what they believe is normal offline. From early exposure to explicit content… to the rise of the manosphere… to the quiet...

Screentime and ADHD brains have their own challenges.  ADHD brains have different strengths and weaknesses - technology can exploit them.  In this episode, Learn how digital use affects the ADHD brain and how to set up some successful parameters with expert Adela Baker, PCC, PCAC.   

There's a new app for teens and families that picks up where "blocking apps" stop. Dayo (the app) does not proclaim to be the answer to a parenting solution to mental health problems. Dayo is about getting screen time down by using a proven technique to do it. From there, you can parent and decide how to invest time offline -  go bike riding, go on hikes, or play family games together! Listen to t...

Talmage Erickson is an author, speaker, and digital wellness expert. Having survived high school with a flip phone, he learned what it meant to live beyond the screen.  As one of the Screen Guys, Talmage believes in creating intentional balance.  This week, we talked about relating to teens in meaningful ways that will help drive connection and make talking about boundaries surrounding technology...

Happy week of the Young Child! The week of the Young Child is an annual week-long celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (AKA: NAEYC). The purpose of this week is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families, and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. The book I'd like to honor and...

Dawn Wible and Julianna Arnold are co-chairs of the Online Harms Prevention workgroup at Fairplay.  Fairplay for Kids is the nation's leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. The online harms prevention work group believes children and young people deserve t...

Julianna Arnold is Coco's mom. Coco is forever 17, having been killed by a fentanyl overdose given to her from someone she trusted online.  On this episode, learn how social media companies are finally being tried for addictive product design and how parents of kids who have suffered from online harms are staying strong.  

Just as you wouldn't let a new driver take the wheel of a car without proper training, using smartphones requires instruction. Healthy Screen Habits now has a workbook designed for tweens and teens to help them navigate the rules of the road for smartphone use.  Healthy Screen Habits Workbook for Tweens and Teens is what we, the founding members of Healthy Screen Habits, wish we had when our oldes...

Eli Singer is the author of Offline.now: A Practical Guide to Healthy Digital Balance and the founder of Offline.now, a global platform and community for digital balance.  Offline. now's mission is to help people build a calmer, more intentional relationship with technology, using practical, compassionate tools and a supportive community so they can use screens purposefully and focus on what matte...

In 2020, during the COVID shutdown, Frank Possemato found himself to be a new dad and an online professor.  He had time to reflect on the life he wanted for his daughter, as well as take note of the changing world while it moved increasingly online. Inspired by life as he knew it before the digital revolution, he purchased a notebook (with actual coins) and started writing about the importance of...

Dr. Sajita Setia is a researcher and global digital wellbeing expert in New Zealand. Her work connects the dots between screen habits, sleep, mood, and the rising mental health crisis in kids. In this episode we talk about:  Why "good screen time" can still cause problems. How screens quietly affect sleep and self-esteem A simple game kids actually buy into: name it, move it, time it How families...

Kellyn Smythe is an expert at helping youth transition from living on devices to connecting with the physical world. Since 2014, he has worked at Pacific Quest, a fully licensed and accredited residential mental healthcare establishment on the island of Hawaii. In this episode we talk about layers of mental health care and what to expect with a digital detox.  Listen now!

What's a VPN?  What does it do? Cybersmart Parenting Protecting Your Child in the Digital Age is a digital safety handbook designed to help parents figure out questions like thes. It's written specifically for busy parents. (Parents like us!) In this episode I talk about online security and safety with the authors of this handbook Chad Rychlewski and Kae David.  It's packed with information on how...

An introduction to Season 15's theme "From First Screens to Crisis Moments". Also, a reminder to check out our Episodes by Topic menu on the Healthy Screen Habits website.  We encourage you to access this free resource whenever needed.  A library of experts awaits!

Healthy Screen Habits takes a break every year during the holiday season to relax, slow down, and enjoy our own families.  Please do the same with yours!  On this episode, get ideas for how to have tech-safe and tech-free fun.  

Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss is the author of the stunning new book, "Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism". As a professor at American University and director of the University's Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL), she has seen firsthand the real damage done to young men through toxic messaging in our online world and advises how to help our boys. List...

Problematic gaming gets experienced in many households, but can be SO HARD to find any information about!  Jennifer J. Park, PhD, has been working on gaming disorder since 2018. After realizing that New Zealand had no existing programs to help people specifically with gaming disorder, Jennifer set out to study this growing concern. Therapists and people at that time were accessing pre-existing add...

Forget grandma….I GOT SCAMMED. I am so embarrassed - I know better. I literally teach people how to stay safe online. Learn about the latest scams, how I got taken, and how to protect your own family. Listen now!  

Imran Ahmed is the founding CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a leading voice in the fight against online hate, disinformation, and manipulation. From viral conspiracy theories to the influence of AI, CCDH has been pushing for accountability from the biggest tech platforms since it began. If you only listen to one episode this season - make it this one. Listen now!  

Wilder Nicholson and Lori Frome, MEd,  worked together on the award-winning documentary, A Stone Unturned, which explores how screen time shapes early childhood and the potential for behaviors that parallel autism.  In this episode, we talk about all things surrounding the condition called "virtual autism". Listen now!  

Julia Storm, MA is a Los Angeles-based digital wellness educator and screen time coach. She's a writer, teacher, public speaker, and the founder of Reconnect, a whole-child, whole-family approach to supporting parents while preparing kids for life in the digital age.  In this episode, we talk about our kids' digital world, AI bots, and more. Listen now!  

Karl Stillner, a tech entrepreneur, has two boys. Even with his background in technology,  he struggled with existing digital tools and wanted a modern approach to parenting that didn't exist in the market.   In 2022, he fixed this!  He co-founded a service that helps parents engage and prepare kids for digital lives. BrightCanary is the service.  Amazingly, it works with Apple products. (Apple pr...

 Ian McCready was once a 12-hour-a-day gamer; he knows firsthand how easy it is to get lost in technology. As a dad of two, he now helps youth and adults reclaim focus and build healthier digital habits. In this episode, we dive into the addictive components of video games and the potential consequences of spending too much time gaming.  We also take a look at Ian's program called SelfCtrl and the...