Real Answers for Raising Kids in a Digital World
Research-grounded guidance, honest conversations, and practical tools — so you can parent with confidence, not fear.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. Our blog is where brain science meets the kitchen table — giving you the language, the strategies, and the steady voice you need to navigate screens, social media, and everything in between.
New to The Screen Guardians? This is the post parents keep sharing.
Screen Time by Age: The Complete Parent’s Guide (Ages 2–18)
"How much screen time is okay for my kid?" If you've ever stood in the kitchen at 5 p.m., tablet in one hand, dinner in the other, asking yourself that exact question — you're not alone. Figuring out the right screen time by age is one of the most common (and most...
What a K–12 Digital Safety Curriculum Should Include (and Why One-Off Lessons Fall Short)
For superintendents, principals, counselors, tech coaches and curriculum planners comparing K–12 digital safety curriculum options. In today’s classrooms, teachers are expected to cover far more than just reading, math, and science—they’re now on the front lines of...
What to Do If Your Child Is Targeted Online, From a KBI Agent
Screen Guardians Podcast 42 — What to Do If Your Child Is Targeted Online, with KBI Senior Special Agent Andy Herrera Every parent I know carries a version of the same fear: the day your kid walks up and says, “Something happened online.” What do you do first? What do...
Is She Ready for Social Media? Why Waiting Isn’t the Whole Answer
Screen Guardians Podcast 41 — Crossing the Bridge to Social Media, with Krista Boan “Everyone has it. I’m the only one who doesn’t.” If you’ve heard that sentence at your kitchen table, you already know how hard this season is. We spend so much energy asking when kids...
Why Intentional Technology Use in Schools Needs Education First
By Susan Dunaway, Neurotherapist The Kansas State Board of Education is reviewing its technology policy for districts and asking that districts outline how they plan to use technology with intention. But intention, in the absence of education, can still be harmful....
From Friday Idea to the State Board: Why We Asked Kansas to Add Education
Four days. That’s how long it took for an idea to become an open letter signed by more than 150 Kansans and read aloud to the Kansas State Board of Education. Before I share how it happened, I want to say thank you. To every parent, teacher, grandparent,...
It’s an Unfair Fight: What the Your Attention Please Documentary Taught Me About Kids, Big Tech, and Why Education Can’t Wait
Screen Guardians Podcast 40 — It’s an Unfair Fight, with Sara Robin, Kristin Bride, and Trisha Prabhu I watched the Your Attention Please documentary over a weekend, and when it ended I had to sit for a minute. It’s a heavy film. It follows the families, young people,...
Missouri School Cell Phone Ban, Year Two: The Phones Are Gone. The Habit Isn’t.
The Missouri school cell phone ban just finished its second year. Kansas students are in their first semester under a bell-to-bell ban of their own. I live and work across both of these states, and I spoke up during the Kansas cell phone conversation. So I'll say it...
Technology Should Earn Its Place in the Classroom
It started because I asked our school a simple question: Can I see a comprehensive list of every app, program and EdTech platform our kids are using? The question led to something I didn’t expect. Our school paused. They realized this deserved a deeper look—and...
Kids Screen Time Isn’t the Right Measure. Here’s What Is.
Screen Guardians Podcast 39 — The Cost of Free, with Ben Gillenwater, the Family IT Guy How many minutes was she on the tablet today? Is two hours too much? For years, kids screen time has been the number families and schools try to manage. On this episode of the...
What Happened to Childhood? Kids Growing Up Too Fast
A morning at the Starbucks that changed my perspective I walked into a Starbucks in an affluent Kansas City neighborhood at 8 a.m. on a Thursday morning with my coffee order and a business meeting on my mind. What I saw stopped me cold. The place was packed with young...
AI Chatbots for Student Mental Health: What Schools Still Owe Kids
Three behavioral support counselors. Eighteen hundred students. That's the math at one Texas high school, and it isn't unusual. So when a company offers a tool that can listen to every student at once and flag the ones in crisis, of course schools say yes. More than...
Two Moms, One Chromebook, and a New State Law: What Parents Can Actually Change About School Technology
Screen Guardians Podcast 38 — parent advocacy in schools with Allie Terry and Liz Jenkins of G-Rated Schools I want to start here: Everything our kids learn about how to live in this world is learned through relationships. Not in isolation. Not in a vacuum. Through...
Social Media Addiction in Kids: You Were Right to Worry
If you have spent the last few years quietly worried about social media addiction in kids — and quietly wondering if you were overreacting — I want you to read this one slowly. In August 2026, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle child-safety claims...
