The Screen Guardians Podcast

Your Attention Please is a new documentary about social media, AI, and the attention economy, now available on Apple TV and other digital platforms. In this episode, director Sara Robin, parent advocate Kristin Bride, and ReThink inventor Trisha Prabhu join Katie Longhauser to talk about social media addiction, cyberbullying, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), and what parents can do to protect kids online. What would the internet look like if it were designed for people instead of profit? Sara shares what pushed her to make the film. After a decade of criticizing social media from the outside, she found she couldn't put her own phone down and had lost her ability to read for fun. Getting her focus back led her to a bigger problem: almost everyone agrees we're on our phones too much, but few can picture an alternative. Trisha offers one. At 13, she invented ReThink, a tool that prompts kids to pause before posting something hurtful. It's the same idea behind Pause, Check, Choose: give the still-developing brain a moment to catch up. As she puts it, the adolescent brain is "like a car with no brakes." Her point for the industry is that if a 13-year-old could build this, platforms could have done far more, far sooner. Kristin explains why they haven't. She reported the cyberbullying of her son Carson to the app YOLO four times and never heard back. Outrage and drama keep kids online longer, and time online is what gets sold to advertisers. She also describes the fight for the Kids Online Safety Act and the lobbying money spent against it. In this episode: Why the pause matters so much for adolescent brains How the business model, more than a lack of ideas, blocks safer design Why Sara calls parental controls "lipstick on a pig," and why design is the real conversation Where the Kids Online Safety Act stands, and how states are stepping in on AI chatbot safety Kristin's advice for parents: wait as long as you can, keep phones out of bedrooms and off the dinner table, and keep talking What gives each guest hope: phone-free schools, a generation skeptical of AI, and the resilience of the human spirit Neither Kristin nor Trisha has ever met a parent or a young person who wished they'd gotten social media sooner. If you're a parent carrying guilt about this, hear what Kristin says: it's an unfair fight. No shame. No judgment. You don't have to navigate this alone. Watch the film, talk about it with your kids, and start where you are. This episode discusses suicide and cyberbullying. Please listen with care. Watch the film: https://www.yourattentionplz.com/ ReThink: free on the App Store, Google Play, and as a Chrome extension Learn more about The Screen Guardians: https://thescreenguardians.com/

The Cost of Free: From Digital Safety to Platform Incentives Most parents think the problem is screen time or willpower. But what if the real issue is something else entirely? In this episode, Katie talks with Ben Gillenwater (Family IT Guy, former NSA cybersecurity expert) about why understanding platform incentives changes everything about digital wellness, parental controls, and raising digitally healthy kids. They explore: why free platforms aren't free, how AI is entering schools without parent consent, what makes early-adopter technology dangerous for kids' developing brains, and the practices that actually protect children—from code words to notification strategies to family rituals. Learn why incentives matter more than willpower, how to evaluate any platform your kid uses, and how education—not restriction—builds lasting digital health. Ben shares how he introduced his 11-year-old to AI safely, and Katie reveals the one practice that turns shame into safety. For parents, educators, and anyone raising kids in the digital age. Grounded in research. Not anti-technology. Pro-child. Topics covered: digital wellness | parental controls | screen time | platform incentives | AI in schools | online safety | kids and technology | digital health | algorithms | screen habits | childhood safety | technology habits | internet safety | dopamine | parenting | education not restriction Guest: Ben Gillenwater, Family I.T. Guy Duration: ~2 hours

Your child's school hands them an internet-connected device for seven hours a day. Do you know what's on it, who chose the software, or what it's collecting? Allie Terry and Liz Jenkins didn't either. They were two moms living across the street from each other in Utah, asking questions about their kids' school Chromebooks that were easy to dismiss one at a time. Those questions became an Instagram account, then a working relationship with state legislators, and then actual legislation that passed and takes effect next fall. In this episode, Katie talks with Allie and Liz about what they found when they started looking: a fifth grader who received explicit content through a shared Google Doc, content filters that flagged problems no one at the school was reviewing, hundreds of ed-tech contracts that were never meaningfully vetted, and student data being collected and shared in ways no parent ever agreed to. They also walk through exactly how two parents with no policy background got two bills written and moved. In this episode: What's really on school Chromebooks—and who vets it How explicit content reached a fifth grader Why content filters alone aren't enough The ed-tech contracts schools carry (and why they're not properly reviewed) Student data collection and privacy violations How to read your child's school device agreement From G-Rated Schools to state legislation: how two parents created change Four things any parent can do this week—in any state AI in schools and what's coming next Resources mentioned: G-Rated Schools: https://www.instagram.com/g_rated_school/ Child First Policy Center: https://childfirstpolicy.org/ The Digital Delusion by Jared Cooney Horvath Internet Safety Labs / BYU audit of Utah school apps From The Screen Guardians: Free parent course: https://thescreenguardians.com/kids-digital-health-guide/ The Parent Portal: https://thescreenguardians.com/parent-portal/ K–12 school program: https://thescreenguardians.com/k-12/ Newsletter: https://thescreenguardians.com/subscribe/ This conversation is a powerful reminder: you don't have to be a tech expert to pay attention, ask questions, and advocate for your child. At The Screen Guardians, we believe education is the greatest form of protection. Not anti-technology. Pro-child.

When The Screen Guardians first walked into Syracuse, Kansas, not everyone clapped. Some parents wondered if this was one more program built to make them feel guilty about screens. One mom assumed we were there to collect data on her kids. Today, those same parents are among the strongest voices for digital wellness in their community. In this special episode, host Katie sits down with Ronna, Amy, and Taryn — three Syracuse moms who came in with their arms crossed and stayed to ask hard questions. They talk openly about the guilt they carried, the brain science that finally made it click, the pushback they got at home, and the small changes that stuck: phones out of bedrooms, screens out of car rides, and family dinners where everyone's device goes away — parents included. They also say the thing most parents are afraid to admit: this is hard, your kid will feel left out, and you'll wonder if you're doing the right thing anyway. This is what education over restriction actually looks like in a real town, in real homes. Not anti-technology. Pro-child. Resources Mentioned The Screen Guardians K–12 Program — https://thescreenguardians.com/k-12/ The Parent Portal — https://thescreenguardians.com/parent-portal/ The Screen Guardians weekly emails - https://thescreenguardians.com/subscribe/ USD 494 Syracuse, Kansas — Superintendent Paul Larkin, and the district wellness committee Kansas State Board of Education — where Taryn and Ronna shared their family stories (see Ep. 33) Susan Dunaway, neurotherapist — the brain science presentation on dopamine and the developing brain Kevin Chronister, ICAC detective — the digital safety presentation Mrs. Plunkett and Ms. Wirtz — the USD 494 teachers who delivered the lessons

A 10-year-old researched screen time for her school project, changed her own habits, and has a hopeful message for parents: it's not too late. What happens when a kid becomes the screen time expert in her own house? In this episode of The Screen Guardians Podcast, host Katie sits down with Ali, a fifth grader who chose kids and screen time as her year-long school exhibition project — "Logged In and Tuned Out: The True Impact of Screen Time" — and her dad, Corey. After reading Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation, Ali deleted apps, rethought her own habits, and discovered a message worth sharing: screens aren't all bad, and it's never too late to find balance. This is a conversation full of hope, not fear — and a beautiful reminder that education, not restriction, is what actually helps kids build a healthy relationship with technology. Resources & links: Read the companion blog: https://thescreenguardians.com/kids-and-screen-time/ The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/ Join the Parent Portal: https://thescreenguardians.com/parent-portal/ Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thescreenguardians.com/subscribe/ Not anti-technology. Pro-child. You don't have to navigate screen time alone — start where you are, and we'll walk this digital parenting road with you. 🎧 The Screen Guardians Podcast | https://thescreenguardians.com/podcast/