Today, Melanie talks with Steve and Candice Watters, a married couple dedicated and passionate about helping and supporting young families. They have four children—13 to 22—whom they have raised ScreenStrong.

Steve and Candice share their “light bulb moments” that led to their realization and diligence in becoming intentional parents. They identified a focus and practice of building relationships with their children, building altern...

This week we'll be hearing from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a US Army Ranger, paratrooper, former West Point Psychology Professor, and author of Assassination Generation: Video Games, Aggression, and the Psychology of Killing. Lt. Col. Grossman describes how playing "innocent" video games progress to addiction, why video games make kids aggressive, the dangers of operant and classical conditioning, and the mental, physical,...

This week, Melanie talks with Candace Collins, a single parent of a 6-year old daughter living a Screen Strong lifestyle. Candace works in Social Media and Digital Marketing and is well aware of the pull that hand held devices have on our daily lives. 

Candace shares her parenting journey of how she began to notice the toxic effects of screen use and how she made the choice to live counter culturally to provide her daughter a nurtur...

Today, Melanie is joined by Joe Clement, a teacher, parent of three, and co-author of Screen Schooled with Matt Miles. Joe is in his 28th year of teaching and brings a unique perspective as he has witnessed the change technology has brought into both the classroom and the home environment. 

Melanie and Joe discuss the mental health risk factors that are influenced by the toxic use of screens that result in loss of empathy, loss of a...

Today, guest host, Mandee Hamann interviews Noah Reid, a 17 year old High School student and Competitive Debater and Public Speaker. 

Noah shares the back story on how he, at the age of 15, wrote a persuasive speech about Age Restricting Social Media. He credits his parents’ continued open communication about Social Media and how their wisdom influenced the development of his speech and his perspectives. 

Noah encourages parents to t...

Today, guest host, Mandee Hamann, introduces Tom Hayes, who is a nationally recognized comedian, speaker, entrepreneur, writer, and creator of an animation titled Beantown Pals. 

Tom shares his personal story of being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer at 13-years-old—learning that adversity leads to character development. Mandee and Tom discuss how the evolution of screens in our culture has changed how we parent, and Tom ...

Melanie is joined by Matt Miles, a teacher and co-author of Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse Is Making Our Kids Dumber. Matt is a passionate educator and advocate for his students. In this interview, he gives a teacher's perspective on virtual learning during the Covid pandemic and the negative outcomes that educators, parents, and students are facing. With his uniquely bold convictions, Matt ...

Our guest today is Emma Lembke, a teenager from Birmingham, Alabama, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of the LOG OFF Movement. The mission of LOG OFF is to seek further dialogue about the multifaceted nature of social media and promote the healthy usage of it. LOG-OFF is passionate about lowering social media’s impact on mental health while teaching teen users and their parents about how to navigate the vast inner-workings of life on ...

In today's episode, Mandee Hamann speaks with Doug Smith who is a Screenstrong Ambassador, father of four adult daughters, software developer, and a life-long Bible student. Doug is the author of [Un]Intentional, How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires And How You Can Break Free. His book provides five practices to purposeful and intentional living with screen use. Doug encourages families to cast a vision of what their life co...

In today's episode, Melanie has a candid conversation with Ronna Glickman, a retired middle school teacher passionate about educating students, parents, and educational administrators about internet safety and the dangers of social media's influence on children. Due to the pandemic, she is now active in tutoring children who are having difficulty managing the current online education platforms.

Melanie and Ronna talk about t...

Melanie welcomes Cris Rowan, who is a registered pediatric occupational therapist, certified sensory specialist (SIPT), biologist, author of "Virtual Child", and prolific speaker on the impact of technology on child development and learning.?

Melanie and Cris start their conversation discussing the 4 Critical Factors needed for the developing child which include movement, touch, human connection, and nature. Cris emphasizes ...

In today's episode, Mandee Hamann welcomes Sarah, one of our ScreenStrong Ambassadors, as she shares her family’s story of becoming ScreenStrong. She shares that it all started with an iPad and describes how quickly her family’s dynamic changed over the course of a few months. Sarah shares how she and her husband guided their family through the ScreenStrong Challenge, what happened after the Challenge was over, and how she recl...

Today Melanie talks with Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women and director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab. Dr. Charmaraman’s research interests include technology and adolescent health, digital citizenship, innovative research methods to include overlooked and hidden populations, and how social identities (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, politic...

In this episode, Melanie introduces our ScreenStrong Families to Dr. Andrew Doan, who shares his expertise on gaming addiction and how it impacts development in children. Dr. Doan is a neuroscientist, physician, author & speaker. With a doctoral degree in neuroscience, his background in molecular neuroscience adds in depth knowledge into the areas of internet, video game, and technology addictions. Dr. Doan is the author of Hoo...

In today's episode, Mandee Hamann (filling in for Melanie Hempe) welcomes Jenny Hoey, the founder of Not My Kid, a group she created for the purpose of educating and supporting parents on the safety issues of raising children within the digital world. Jenny is a Screen Strong Ambassador and parenting coach that lives with her family in Australia. Today, Jenny shares her and her daughter's personal life-changing story of an ...

In this episode of the ScreenStrong podcast, Melanie talks to James Good, whose young life was overtaken by video game addiction. James describes how as he moved through high school and into university, his healthy hobbies, interests, and friendships were slowly replaced by gaming until he began to struggle socially, emotionally, and academically. One of James’ key realizations as he beat his gaming problem was that he had never le...

Tom Kersting, author of our May Book of the Month (BOTM) pick "Disconnected," joins the entire ScreenStrong Team and members from our community to answer YOUR questions about fear culture, parental denial, teen privacy online, smartphones in school, and so much more!

Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast to help spread the word. Stay Strong! 

In this episode, Barb Winters, a Sexual Risk Avoidance Specialist, discusses the emotional discovery of her son’s pornography exposure and her passion to help parents not suffer alone in isolation after making similar discoveries. She and Melanie talk through tips to prevent porn use for teens and some unique approaches to help kids engage in helpful conversations.  

Subscribe at Barb's website hopefulmom.net to receive updates ...

In the second half of Melanie’s discussion with author Tom Kersting, they move on to his chapters about how technology affects children’s social and emotional development, and how family dynamics are negatively impacted by screen saturation in kids. Kersting focuses on problems that Melanie and other parents are familiar with: kids who would rather game than make real friends, emotional dysregulation, and a feeling of disconnection...