The ever-changing tech landscape and the ever-growing research on interactive screens means that the topic must come up anew year after year. For parents trying to keep pace, Clare Morell has compiled the most up-to-date research into her recent release, The Tech Exit. Armed with the facts and interviews with dozens of Tech Exit families, she encourages parents that it’s never too late to reverse course on smartphones. United with other families trying to do the same, we can replace the new “smartphone milestone” with real milestones that emphasize the goods of the real world.
Chapters:
00:03:56 Getting the metaphor right
00:08:32 The myth of time limits, parental controls
00:11:24 Boys and online extortion
00:14:23 A culture inherent to smartphone use
00:17:51 A parent’s willpower vs. Big Tech
00:22:30 The alternatives: feature phones, landlines
00:31:25 Not your mama’s internet
00:34:43 Brain drain: new research on attention, making memories
00:39:41 How to reverse course with teens
00:43:01 The 30-day digital fast
00:47:17 A new digital paradigm: F.E.A.S.T.
00:56:13 Digital accountability in the home
01:00:30 Morell’s personal tech use
01:05:22 The father’s role
01:09:56 Encouragement to start
Links:
The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones by Clare Morell
The Tech Exit Supplementary Resources by Clare Morell
Reset Your Child’s Brain by Victoria Dunckley
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
‘Sextortion’ Scams Involving Apple Messages Ended in Tragedy for These Boys, 7 June 2025, WSJ
How Broken Are Apple’s Parental Controls? It Took 3 Years to Fix an X-Rated Loophole, 5 June 2024, WSJ
Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity, April 2017, UChicago Press
Also on the Forum:
Dumb Phones, Feature Phones, and the New Tech Landscape featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Technology in the Home: Perspective, Principles, and Practices by Michael Moynihan
Smart Phones: A New Mythos by George Martin
On Self-Mastery, Technology, and Parental Discernment featuring Alvaro de Vicente
Smart Phones: Why Wait When He’s “The Only One” featuring Joe Cardenas
Featured opportunities:
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)