Do you have a long car ride ahead for Thanksgiving or just looking for activities to do with your kids off screens? How about a podcast? I love podcasts and listen to them with my kids often because, as I’ve written about before, we have a rule in our family about not using cellphones in the car. Every time we hear a new one we learn something, and it sparks conversation and debate. Furthermore, as Stephanie Hayes writes in the Atlantic:
“The absence of images in podcasts seems to be a source of their creative potential. Without visuals, listeners are required to fill the gaps—and when these listeners are children, the results can be powerful. Numerous studies have found that children between the ages of seven and 13 respond more creatively to radio stories than to stories shown on television. Audio stories prompt kids to draw more novel pictures, think up more unique questions, and solve problems in a more imaginative way than TV tales.”
Freakonomics
How Can I Do the Most Social Good With $100?
Thinking Is Expensive. Who’s Supposed to Pay for It?
Ted Radio
Sam Kass: Can Free Breakfast Improve Learning?
Wendy Troxel: Does High School Start Too Early?
Planet Money
Episode 804: Your Cell Phone's A Snitch
Episode 369: If Teens Ran the Fed
Some other great ones are This American Life, Radiolab, and StoryCorps. A couple that I’ve heard are good for younger kids are Tumble and Brains On.
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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
Learn more about showing our movies in 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
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Do you have a long car ride ahead for Thanksgiving or just looking for activities to do with your kids off screens? How about a podcast? I love podcasts and listen to them with my kids often because, as I’ve written about before, we have a rule in our family about not using cellphones in the car. Every time we hear a new one we learn something, and it sparks conversation and debate. Furthermore, as Stephanie Hayes writes in the Atlantic:
“The absence of images in podcasts seems to be a source of their creative potential. Without visuals, listeners are required to fill the gaps—and when these listeners are children, the results can be powerful. Numerous studies have found that children between the ages of seven and 13 respond more creatively to radio stories than to stories shown on television. Audio stories prompt kids to draw more novel pictures, think up more unique questions, and solve problems in a more imaginative way than TV tales.”
Freakonomics
How Can I Do the Most Social Good With $100?
Thinking Is Expensive. Who’s Supposed to Pay for It?
Ted Radio
Sam Kass: Can Free Breakfast Improve Learning?
Wendy Troxel: Does High School Start Too Early?
Planet Money
Episode 804: Your Cell Phone's A Snitch
Episode 369: If Teens Ran the Fed
Some other great ones are This American Life, Radiolab, and StoryCorps. A couple that I’ve heard are good for younger kids are Tumble and Brains On.
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Do you have a long car ride ahead for Thanksgiving or just looking for activities to do with your kids off screens? How about a podcast? I love podcasts and listen to them with my kids often because, as I’ve written about before, we have a rule in our family about not using cellphones in the car. Every time we hear a new one we learn something, and it sparks conversation and debate. Furthermore, as Stephanie Hayes writes in the Atlantic:
“The absence of images in podcasts seems to be a source of their creative potential. Without visuals, listeners are required to fill the gaps—and when these listeners are children, the results can be powerful. Numerous studies have found that children between the ages of seven and 13 respond more creatively to radio stories than to stories shown on television. Audio stories prompt kids to draw more novel pictures, think up more unique questions, and solve problems in a more imaginative way than TV tales.”
Freakonomics
How Can I Do the Most Social Good With $100?
Thinking Is Expensive. Who’s Supposed to Pay for It?
Ted Radio
Sam Kass: Can Free Breakfast Improve Learning?
Wendy Troxel: Does High School Start Too Early?
Planet Money
Episode 804: Your Cell Phone's A Snitch
Episode 369: If Teens Ran the Fed
Some other great ones are This American Life, Radiolab, and StoryCorps. A couple that I’ve heard are good for younger kids are Tumble and Brains On.
Some families are exploring a new, Wi-Fi-enabled landline phone that allows kids to communicate without screens. This blog explains how the phone works, why parents value its simplicity and built-in controls, and how groups of families are adopting it together to reduce pressure around smartphones. A parent conversation highlights shared buy-in, voice-only communication, and giving kids more independence while delaying personal devices.
READ MORE >
Today I’m rounding up six of the most-read blogs from 2025 so far. Stories and interviews that struck a chord with readers and offered real tools for parenting in the screen age. Whether you missed a few or want a quick refresher, I hope you’ll find something here that inspires a new conversation in your home, school, or community.
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.
