Last week Common Sense Media released the results from their latest survey: Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight. While the results are not surprising, they are troubling.
What I found most interesting is that almost half of kids eight years old and under have their own mobile device (this includes all types of mobile electronics including smartphones). What are the concerns of this new mobile reality?
First, we have to fully accept the intensity with which youth desire today’s fast-paced and interactive screen time. I hear of one and a half-year-olds standing up in their cribs yelling, “iPad, iPad” not “Mommy” or “Daddy.” Screen time plays directly into the pleasure parts of children’s brains. They want high excitement and flashing lights—they want dopamine secreted in the nucleus accumbens of their brain.
Now that this dopamine pump can travel everywhere with a child, it means as parents we have two choices: hand the device over and quiet the child or, set clear guidelines and work to stick to them. This is not easy, and this is exactly what Screenagers is all about. In the movie, I explore the science of screen time but also what the science of parenting tells us about how to set and stay within limits.
So how young is too young for a mobile device? I prefer instead to think about how often do we give youth mobile devices to use outside the home? I can’t give an exact age, but I can say that particularly for toddlers, the more mobile devices are not mobile, the better.
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Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Register your interest in bringing our new movie to your school or community
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Register your interest in bringing our new movie to your school or community
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Last week Common Sense Media released the results from their latest survey: Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight. While the results are not surprising, they are troubling.
What I found most interesting is that almost half of kids eight years old and under have their own mobile device (this includes all types of mobile electronics including smartphones). What are the concerns of this new mobile reality?
First, we have to fully accept the intensity with which youth desire today’s fast-paced and interactive screen time. I hear of one and a half-year-olds standing up in their cribs yelling, “iPad, iPad” not “Mommy” or “Daddy.” Screen time plays directly into the pleasure parts of children’s brains. They want high excitement and flashing lights—they want dopamine secreted in the nucleus accumbens of their brain.
Now that this dopamine pump can travel everywhere with a child, it means as parents we have two choices: hand the device over and quiet the child or, set clear guidelines and work to stick to them. This is not easy, and this is exactly what Screenagers is all about. In the movie, I explore the science of screen time but also what the science of parenting tells us about how to set and stay within limits.
So how young is too young for a mobile device? I prefer instead to think about how often do we give youth mobile devices to use outside the home? I can’t give an exact age, but I can say that particularly for toddlers, the more mobile devices are not mobile, the better.
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Last week Common Sense Media released the results from their latest survey: Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight. While the results are not surprising, they are troubling.
What I found most interesting is that almost half of kids eight years old and under have their own mobile device (this includes all types of mobile electronics including smartphones). What are the concerns of this new mobile reality?
First, we have to fully accept the intensity with which youth desire today’s fast-paced and interactive screen time. I hear of one and a half-year-olds standing up in their cribs yelling, “iPad, iPad” not “Mommy” or “Daddy.” Screen time plays directly into the pleasure parts of children’s brains. They want high excitement and flashing lights—they want dopamine secreted in the nucleus accumbens of their brain.
Now that this dopamine pump can travel everywhere with a child, it means as parents we have two choices: hand the device over and quiet the child or, set clear guidelines and work to stick to them. This is not easy, and this is exactly what Screenagers is all about. In the movie, I explore the science of screen time but also what the science of parenting tells us about how to set and stay within limits.
So how young is too young for a mobile device? I prefer instead to think about how often do we give youth mobile devices to use outside the home? I can’t give an exact age, but I can say that particularly for toddlers, the more mobile devices are not mobile, the better.
Hobbies offer benefits at every age, from helping children build a sense of self to giving retirees a renewed sense of purpose. The word traces back to the 1400s as a nickname for a small horse, later evolving into today's meaning of a pastime pursued for its own sake. Parents can spark interest by sharing their own hobby histories, building a family-history hobby list, and trying new activities together. Summer is an ideal time to lean into offline hobbies as an antidote to screen saturation.
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When kids break a rule, most parents default to handing down a consequence. But research on autonomy-supportive parenting shows that inviting kids to help decide the consequence leads to deeper learning, stronger accountability, and even kinder behavior toward others. Younger kids tend to overpunish themselves while teens often go easy, and both create natural openings for parents to guide the conversation. The goal isn't softer consequences. It's consequences that actually teach.
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Kids with ADHD benefit most when parents provide support at the exact moment behavior happens, a science-backed approach called "point of performance." Abruptly shifting from high-stimulation screen time to demanding tasks creates a "dopamine cliff," a brain chemistry drop that often shows up as resistance and conflict. Understanding both concepts helps parents smooth those transitions and build real skills and confidence in their kids over time.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
