ScreenStrong Families

Today, Melanie is joined by Joe Clement, a teacher, parent of three, and co-author of Screen Schooled with Matt Miles. Joe is in his 28th year of teaching and brings a unique perspective as he has witnessed the change technology has brought into both the classroom and the home environment.  Melanie and Joe discuss the mental health risk factors that are influenced by the toxic use of screens that...

Today, guest host, Mandee Hamann interviews Noah Reid, a 17 year old High School student and Competitive Debater and Public Speaker.  Noah shares the back story on how he, at the age of 15, wrote a persuasive speech about Age Restricting Social Media. He credits his parents’ continued open communication about Social Media and how their wisdom influenced the development of his speech and his perspe...

Today, guest host, Mandee Hamann, introduces Tom Hayes, who is a nationally recognized comedian, speaker, entrepreneur, writer, and creator of an animation titled Beantown Pals.  Tom shares his personal story of being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer at 13-years-old—learning that adversity leads to character development. Mandee and Tom discuss how the evolution of screens in our culture...

Melanie is joined by Matt Miles, a teacher and co-author of Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse Is Making Our Kids Dumber . Matt is a passionate educator and advocate for his students. In this interview, he gives a teacher's perspective on virtual learning during the Covid pandemic and the negative outcomes that educators, parents, and students are facing. With...

Our guest today is Emma Lembke, a teenager from Birmingham, Alabama, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of the LOG OFF Movement . The mission of LOG OFF is to seek further dialogue about the multifaceted nature of social media and promote the healthy usage of it. LOG-OFF is passionate about lowering social media’s impact on mental health while teaching teen users and their parents about how to navigate...

In today's episode, Mandee Hamann speaks with Doug Smith who is a Screenstrong Ambassador, father of four adult daughters, software developer, and a life-long Bible student. Doug is the author of [Un]Intentional, How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires And How You Can Break Free . His book provides five practices to purposeful and intentional living with screen use. Doug encourages families t...

In today's episode, Melanie has a candid conversation with Ronna Glickman, a retired middle school teacher passionate about educating students, parents, and educational administrators about internet safety and the dangers of social media's influence on children. Due to the pandemic, she is now active in tutoring children who are having difficulty managing the current online education pla...

Melanie welcomes Cris Rowan, who is a registered pediatric occupational therapist, certified sensory specialist (SIPT), biologist, author of "Virtual Child", and prolific speaker on the impact of technology on child development and learning.  Melanie and Cris start their conversation discussing the 4 Critical Factors needed for the developing child which include movement, touch, human co...

In today's episode, Mandee Hamann welcomes Sarah, one of our ScreenStrong Ambassadors, as she shares her family’s story of becoming ScreenStrong. She shares that it all started with an iPad and describes how quickly her family’s dynamic changed over the course of a few months. Sarah shares how she and her husband guided their family through the ScreenStrong Challenge, what happened after the...

Today Melanie talks with Linda Charmaraman, Ph. D., a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women and director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab. Dr. Charmaraman’s research interests include technology and adolescent health, digital citizenship, innovative research methods to include overlooked and hidden populations, and how social identities (e.g., gender, race/et...

In this episode, Melanie introduces our ScreenStrong Families to Dr. Andrew Doan, who shares his expertise on gaming addiction and how it impacts development in children. Dr. Doan is a neuroscientist, physician, author & speaker. With a doctoral degree in neuroscience, his background in molecular neuroscience adds in depth knowledge into the areas of internet, video game, and technology addict...

In today's episode, Mandee Hamann (filling in for Melanie Hempe) welcomes Jenny Hoey, the founder of Not My Kid, a group she created for the purpose of educating and supporting parents on the safety issues of raising children within the digital world. Jenny is a Screen Strong Ambassador and parenting coach that lives with her family in Australia. Today, Jenny shares her and her daughter'...

In this episode of the ScreenStrong podcast, Melanie talks to James Good, whose young life was overtaken by video game addiction. James describes how as he moved through high school and into university, his healthy hobbies, interests, and friendships were slowly replaced by gaming until he began to struggle socially, emotionally, and academically. One of James’ key realizations as he beat his gami...

Tom Kersting, author of our May Book of the Month (BOTM) pick "Disconnected," joins the entire ScreenStrong Team and members from our community to answer YOUR questions about fear culture, parental denial, teen privacy online, smartphones in school, and so much more! Support the show Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us...

In this episode, Barb Winters, a Sexual Risk Avoidance Specialist, discusses the emotional discovery of her son’s pornography exposure and her passion to help parents not suffer alone in isolation after making similar discoveries. She and Melanie talk through tips to prevent porn use for teens and some unique approaches to help kids engage in helpful conversations.   Subscribe at Barb's websi...

In the second half of Melanie’s discussion with author Tom Kersting, they move on to his chapters about how technology affects children’s social and emotional development, and how family dynamics are negatively impacted by screen saturation in kids. Kersting focuses on problems that Melanie and other parents are familiar with: kids who would rather game than make real friends, emotional dysregulat...

Nate Webb is a bullying survivor and high school counselor who started the Bullies Be Gone podcast and speaks at schools about bullying, social media, and how kids can get back to loving their lives. As a counselor, he has seen how smartphone access and social media have exacerbated bullying by opening kids up to 24/7 contact with their peers. In his conversation with Melanie, Nate emphasizes his...

Mary Mulliken is a healthy screen habits coach who encourages families to parent their children to be creators and not consumers of their environment. She is writing a book, Supercharged: 50 Reasons to Raise Kids Screen-Free from Birth to Age Seven.  In today’s episode, Melanie and Mary talk about the benefits of raising your children screen-free during their early childhood years. From stimulatin...

In today's episode, Melanie speaks with Opal Singleton. She is the President and CEO of Million Kids and serves as the Training and Outreach Coordinator for the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force and is contracted for human trafficking training services through the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Opal has authored two books, Seduced: The Grooming of America's Teena...

In this episode Melanie speaks with Tom Kersting, our featured author of our book of the month, Disconnected: How to Reconnect our Digitally Distracted Kids . Tom began his career as a School Counselor and Therapist almost twenty-five years ago. He is a nationally known speaker, author, TV personality, and he has a private practice located in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Melanie and Tom explore the firs...

Dr. Victoria Dunckley, author of our April Book of the Month (BOTM) pick "Reset Your Child's Brain" joins the entire ScreenStrong Team and members from our community to answer YOUR questions about screens and teens, tips for getting through the screen reset, how to troubleshoot difficult transitions, and so much more! Support the show Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave...

 Melissa is an occupational therapist who specializes in sensory integration and processing. Her focus has moved from helping children with developmental delays to helping children and young people with screen and media addictions. This career trajectory made it clear to Melissa that the two problems were increasingly connected. Dependence on screens presents new challenges to sensory integration...

In this second episode featuring Dr. Victoria Dunckley, Melanie and Victoria discuss the goals and outcomes highlighted in the second half of the integrative psychiatrist’s book, Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen Time. Victoria provides practical advice to parents on how to prepare for the...

Anne Marie McDonald is Vice President of PR & Strategy for Gabb Wireless, the company that provides talk and text phones without access to internet or social media to help kids and teens stay safely connected without temptation or distraction. In this episode, Melanie talks to the working mother of four about the dangers of typical smartphones for children and teenagers, and how Anne Marie bec...

Smith Alley, a brave and inspiring 17-year-old, shares his story of a five year battle with pornography addiction as well as his struggles with social media. Determined to be more than a “success story,” he founded his company, Protecht Strong , to help families safely set up technology limits in their home.  Melanie and Smith discuss what it means to prepare our children for the real world and th...