SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
Technology is shaping our lives, whether we like it or not. And for parents, managing a digital world of smartphones, social media and virtual reality can feel overwhelming. That's how it felt for Andrew Bracken. He's a journalist with San Diego Public Media station KPBS and, more importantly for this conversation, a parent. He started asking questions of medical experts, researchers, even kids about how growing up around screens is affecting childhood, and that led to his podcast ScreenTime. Andrew Bracken joins me now to talk more about it. Hi, Andrew. Welcome.
ANDREW BRACKEN, BYLINE: It's great to be here. Thanks so much for having me.
MCCAMMON: So Andrew, I'm also a parent. These questions about screen time, I think they plague every parent...
BRACKEN: Yes.
MCCAMMON: ...Unless you're raising kids off the grid, and then you have other challenges, I'm sure. But tell me more about why you decided to delve into this topic of screens and kids as a journalist.
BRACKEN: Well, I mean, you kind of touched on it there, but I'd chalk it up to just feeling overwhelmed as a parent. Back in 2024, you know, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy - he issued a health advisory on parental stress. And if you dig into some of the research he cited, concerns around technology - social media use, screen use - they're near the top of the list of parents' concerns, and, you know, couple that with just my own anecdotal experiences. It's just a subject, as you know, that just so often comes up and something parents have really been struggling with.
MCCAMMON: Just sort of having kids, the world forces the issue because everybody's got screens, it seems like, and then you have to decide what to do when it comes to your own children. I'm almost afraid to ask this next question 'cause it's going to fill me with mom guilt, but what do the experts say? I mean, how much screen time is too much?
BRACKEN: I mean, I asked this question a lot and pretty quickly learned that may no longer be the best question on screens at this point, just due to how ubiquitous they are in our lives. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics, for years, they had daily screen time recommendations. I think for, like, kids, you know, age 5 and up, about two hours a day, but about a decade ago, they abandoned them.
MCCAMMON: They gave up (laughter).
BRACKEN: Yeah, basically. They're in homes. They're in our schools, right? It's really hard to have kind of a one-size-fits-all approach. They now recommend kind of developing a family media plan. But for kids growing up in this very digital world, a lot of advice focuses more on the types of content kids are experiencing and how they're using these devices. You know, time is a factor, but it's not the most important piece here. And that leads to a reframing of how we may want to think about issues around screens and kids. Here's Dr. Michael Rich. He's a pediatrician and researcher from The Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital.
MICHAEL RICH: The issue of screen time is not so much that screen time is inherently toxic so much as what it displaces - what we are not doing because we're on a screen. We are not, you know, taking a walk in the woods or having a conversation with our parents or doing our homework or, frankly, getting sleep and a decent meal. So I think that it's really more about how we use the screens. Obviously, the content of those screens is very important but also the context of our use of them - when, where and how we are using them - that really makes a huge difference.
MCCAMMON: Which resonates for me as a mom who has definitely said, put that thing away. We're eating dinner. You know, as you were doing this reporting, Andrew, was there anything that surprised you?
BRACKEN: Oh, quite a bit. One thing that really surprised me is how big of a factor parent screen use plays into how kids use technology. There's this term technoference (ph). You know, it refers to parents being distracted by their devices in the presence of their kids and the impact it's having on child development. And in speaking with young people, I heard about this quite a bit. Here is one former high school student from San Diego I spoke with last year. Her name is J Lewy (ph).
J LEWY: I think social media and technology is a concern with the younger generation. But over time, I do find my parents to also kind of dive into, like, that rabbit hole. Like, I always see my mom - she's always on, like, TikTok and, like, TikTok Lives. So I feel like that's a reason why screen time isn't as addressed to, like, me and my siblings.
BRACKEN: Definitely, my ears were burning, listening back to that. And that's...
MCCAMMON: (Laughter).
BRACKEN: ...You know, a really common sentiment I heard a lot from young people, also some pediatricians and medical experts, as well.
MCCAMMON: Yeah. Guilty as charged...
BRACKEN: (Laughter).
MCCAMMON: ...Too. As you were talking with those researchers and medical experts, what did they tell you, practically, here about what to do? How do we handle these questions about screen time and kids?
BRACKEN: The No. 1 thing that came up was sleep. The most common tip I heard was just removing those devices from the bedroom at night. That's, like, a real important point. There's, you know, studies that show even if it's left on silent, if it's sitting next to you, it could - you know, it still impacts sleep. So buying an alarm clock is, you know, a huge one you'll hear a lot about. One more piece of advice that's really struck with me relates to screens and discipline. I spoke with Dr. Willough Jenkins. She's a child psychiatrist at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, and here's how she put it.
WILLOUGH JENKINS: I see screens being used a lot as both a reward and as a punishment, and I think we have to be incredibly careful doing that because then we are saying we value screens more than other activities. And we're sending that message that your screen time is more valuable than your reading time, your sports time, your social time.
BRACKEN: And there's evidence behind this. One researcher I spoke with, Dr. Jason Nagata from UC San Francisco - he published a study that found using screens as a reward or as a punishment actually led to increased screen use.
MCCAMMON: Take it away, they'll want more of it. I have to know. How did the things you learned while working on the ScreenTime podcast change your own parenting?
BRACKEN: Well, I mean, I wish I could say, you know, I'd live in a doom-scrolling-free home or something, but it's always a work in progress. It's definitely made me think a lot about my own technology use. So I'm really focused more on finding opportunities to better connect with my own kids, whether, you know, online or off, frankly - playing games, connecting with tools they may want to use - and really driving home that - you know, the importance of talking to our kids about the internet and all that it involves and just how important that is.
MCCAMMON: Andrew Bracken is the creator of the podcast ScreenTime, which you can listen to anywhere you get NPR network podcasts. You can also find more stories and resources at kpbs.org/screentime. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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