EP 38 - Keeping our Kids off Screens - Conversations for Good with Briggs
“We are the generation who did not have smartphones growing up but now have kids with smartphones,” says Briggs Rolfsrud, COO of Grid + Glam who returns to the Get Organized for Good podcast to co-host another episode of Conversations for Good alongside Corinne Morahan. Today, the two best friends and business partners discuss their respective approaches to managing the time their kids—who range in age from seven to 14—spend on various devices and/or social media. Their parenting preferences and personalities inform their rules—-whether they set limits according to hours spent on devices, or according to the way that the devices affect their kids’ behavior. They talk about balancing screen time with school, extracurricular activities and time spent outdoors, and the nuances among TV, phones and tablets, and video games.
In order to model healthy screen behavior, the moms found themselves having to assess their own behavior and curb some of their bad habits. Learn how they reclaimed their time from mindless scrolling, as well as Corinne’s stance on various social media—and why her kids are emphatically forbidden from using TikTok. Briggs shares the points system she set up this past summer to keep her children engaged and productive while still allowing them to enjoy their tablets and TV. Corinne shares a study which reveals a surprising attitude of kids toward their cell phones.
Join today’s conversation to hear how two Gen-X moms are raising digital natives to navigate the ever-evolving tech landscape in a way that’s healthy, safe, balanced and still fun.
Quotes
- “We are the generation who did not have smartphones growing up but now have kids with smartphones. So, the generation after us, those folks in their 20s who may be having kids now or are going to soon, they had that experience and they know, ‘I did not like having an iPhone when I was 11. It opened up to doors that I was not ready to have opened yet.’ So, [they are] going to restrict their kid until they are whatever they felt, in their own experience, it would have been best for them. And vice versa.” (4:45 | Briggs Rolfsrud)
- “We’re not bringing our own experience to our kids’ experiences. So, we’re relying on data, we’re relying on conversations with our friends, and we’re relying on our instincts.” (6:26 | Corinne Morahan)
- “I find that when they are watching TV—and when I say TV, it’s a show, it’s not like watching Youtube shorts on the TV—it’s something that engages their mind for a bit longer, they get less of that angstiness…whereas the phones, I think, are horrible.” (7:38 | Corinne Morahan)
- “It’s so interesting how, I think, our parenting preferences and personalities impact our screen time for our kids… definitely I am more lenient during the week with screens, and I was when my kids were younger, because I don’t want to play with them.” (21:49 | Corinne Morahan)
- “I think, ‘I have to do something productive and no one is messaging me. I’m not getting any input from the place where I’m wanting it from so I’m going to find it myself and go on Instagram.’ And then you’re getting this input and then you forget what you’re doing after 30 minutes. I think that that’s often what happens—I’m not trying to, I just feel like I need to be productive. I’m not getting the messages to me that I’m wanting right now, but Instagram will send me messages that I’m wanting because it’s fun.” (29:44 | Briggs Rolfsrud)
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