What is Healthy Screen Time? Reclaiming Real Connection

Foster and Cesar dive deep into our screen habits, asking the vital question: what does a healthy relationship with your phone actually look like? They share their evolving perspectives on smartphones, screen time, and social media, especially as parents who are navigating the decision of when (and how) to introduce tech to their children. They examine not just the mental health data around screen use, but also the emotional undercurrents: dopamine addiction, numbing, comparison culture, and the aching loneliness that can exist in the age of hyper-connectivity.

This is a warm, non-judgmental conversation for anyone wrestling with digital burnout, setting phone boundaries, or seeking alternatives to screen-based connection. Drawing on their own family systems and creative lives, Foster and Cesar unpack screen time as the "new fast food," exploring how to treat smartphones as tools (not lifelines) and how real-life community and mindful connection are the true antidotes to digital overwhelm. A must-listen for anyone exploring digital wellness, conscious social media use, and building meaningful relationships in a tech-saturated world.

In this episode they explore: 

• Are we living in The McSmartphone Era?
• Parenting: when is the right time to give a kid a phone?
• Are we connecting—or just numbing?
• What actually makes a phone habit healthy?
• Why boundaries and intention matter more than just deleting apps
• Dopamine vs. oxytocin: the chemistry behind phone addiction
• Transforming your digital habits—without shame

Also mentioned: 

• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• Worry Over Social Media May Be Misplaced - Stanford study
• Foster’s eating disorder which is explored in The Eating Habits We Didn’t Choose
• Off the Grid with Amelia Hruby

You can also watch the episodes on YouTube!

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Cesar Cardona:

• Attend his upcoming speaking engagements
• Listen to music from Cesar + The Clew on Apple Music and Spotify
• Receive his monthly newsletter Insights That Matter

Foster Wilson:

• Buy her poetry book Afternoon Abundance
• Learn about her postpartum services
• Receive her monthly newsletter Foster’s Village

Created & Hosted by: Cesar Cardona and Foster Wilson

Executive Producer: Glenn Milley

This episode is brought to you by Arlene Thornton & Associates

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