About this episode
Parenting in the digital age can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. For this episode, Emily brings in the insight of Ash Brandin for a thoughtful conversation about her book, Power On, and what healthy screen use can actually look like for families. With over 15 years of hands-on experience teaching in the classroom, Ash shares a perspective that moves away from fear and guilt, encouraging parents to think about screens with the same balance and neutrality we often bring to food or other everyday choices.By the end, you’ll hopefully have a more compassionate lens for thinking about tech and some practical, flexible ideas for creating a calm, balanced approach to screen time that truly fits with your own family’s life.Listen and Learn: How viewing kids’ screen time with moral neutrality can help parents move past guilt and fear to understand the real purposes screens serve and the deeper systemic issues driving our reliance on themWhy the old “two-hour screen limit” is outdated and oversimplified, and how a personalized family media plan can lead to healthier, more sustainable screen useReframing of screen time and how systemic factors make it unfair to place all the blame or responsibility on individual parents, and why true change requires collective, not individual, solutionsHow self-determination theory explains kids’ relationships with screens, not as addiction but as a way to meet core needs for autonomy, competence, and connection, and how parents can stay neutral, understand what needs are being met, and help kids find healthy, varied ways to fulfill themWhy not everything that releases dopamine is addictive, how our relationship to an activity matters more than the activity itself, and why screens aren’t “evil dopamine machines”Resources: Power on: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780306836992Ash’s Website https://www.thegamereducator.com/Connect with Ashon Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/thegamereducatorhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ash-brandin025For More on Ash’s Work, Subscribe to their Substack https://theg
