The Screen Guardians Podcast

The Cost of Free: From Digital Safety to Platform Incentives

Most parents think the problem is screen time or willpower. But what if the real issue is something else entirely? In this episode, Katie talks with Ben Gillenwater (Family IT Guy, former NSA cybersecurity expert) about why understanding platform incentives changes everything about digital wellness, parental controls, and raising digitally healthy kids.

They explore: why fr...

Your child's school hands them an internet-connected device for seven hours a day. Do you know what's on it, who chose the software, or what it's collecting?

Allie Terry and Liz Jenkins didn't either. They were two moms living across the street from each other in Utah, asking questions about their kids' school Chromebooks that were easy to dismiss one at a time. Those questions became an Instagram account, then a working relationshi...

When The Screen Guardians first walked into Syracuse, Kansas, not everyone clapped. Some parents wondered if this was one more program built to make them feel guilty about screens. One mom assumed we were there to collect data on her kids.

Today, those same parents are among the strongest voices for digital wellness in their community.

In this special episode, host Katie sits down with Ronna, Amy, and Taryn — three Syracuse m...

A 10-year-old researched screen time for her school project, changed her own habits, and has a hopeful message for parents: it's not too late.

What happens when a kid becomes the screen time expert in her own house?

In this episode of The Screen Guardians Podcast, host Katie sits down with Ali, a fifth grader who chose kids and screen time as her year-long school exhi...

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness and isolation a national epidemic — and teenagers are at the center of it. They're the most digitally connected generation in history, and one of the loneliest.

In this episode, host Katie sits down with Ryan Bevins and JP Claxton, the founder and co-founder of Fight Club — a confidential, peer-support organization for teens built on one powerful idea: no one fights ...

Practical, no-fear ways to plan a low-screen, high-connection summer.

Summer screen time has a way of creeping up the moment the school-day structure disappears. In Episode 34 of the Screen Guardians Podcast, Katie sits down with mom of three and former labor-and-delivery nurse Janelle Campbell for an honest conversation about planning an intentional summer — without banning screens or scheduling every second.

They get into...

A rural Kansas district shares what changed in classrooms and homes after going K–12 with The Screen Guardians.

What happens when an entire school district stops talking about screen time and actually does something about it?

In this episode, we hand the mic to the people who went first. Recorded live on May 13, 2026 before the Kansas Department of Education State Board, you'll hear Superintendent Paul Larkin, Elementary P...

If you've watched your kid trudge out of school carrying a Chromebook and felt a quiet knot in your stomach — you're not imagining it. Edtech in schools rolled out faster than the brain science behind it, and now the data is catching up.

In this episode, Katie Longhauser walks through how we got here, what's actually happening in kids' developing brains, and the clear next steps families and schools can take without fear, sha...

We talk a lot about what screens are doing to kids in the classroom. But here's a question we don't ask enough: who is teaching the teachers?

In this episode, host Katie sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Walter — an assistant professor at Rockhurst University who prepares the next generation of educators, a former English teacher, a mom of two elementary-age kids, and the academic vice president of her children's PTA. She lives th...

Why prevention has to come before the message ever hits your kid's phone.

What if prevention became the first layer of protection — not the second? In this solo episode of The Screen Guardians Podcast, founder Katie Longhauser walks through why we're so good at responding to harm but not as intentional about preventing it, and what that means for parents trying to figure out how to protect kids online in 2026.

From a Sunday-m...

You already know the screens are an issue. You feel it in the eye rolls. You feel it in the bedtime battles. You feel it in your own thumb as you scroll one more time before sleep. Raising healthy kids in a digital age isn't about removing devices — it's about raising kids who actually know how to use them. In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Shreya Hessler returns to The Screen Guardians podcast with practical, neuros...

If you've ever found yourself yelling "put the phone down!" while simultaneously scrolling your own device, you're not alone. Intentional parenting in a digital world is one of the biggest challenges families face today — and most of us are figuring it out as we go.

On a recent episode of The Screen Guardians Podcast, host Katie Longhauser sat down with Kori Bloom — founder of Conscious Not Crazy, author...

If you've ever handed your toddler a tablet just to get through dinner — or noticed your teenager retreating to their room for hours on end, scrolling and silent — you're not alone. Most of us feel it. Something is off. But connecting the dots between our kids' screens and their emotional wellbeing can feel murky, even overwhelming.

In Episode 27 of the Screen Guardians Podcast, host Katie sits down with Tessa Stuckey &...

Parenting kids in the digital age is incredibly hard. We are the first generation to raise children in the most digitally saturated environment in human history. With teens averaging more than seven hours of recreational screen use per day, many parents worry about sleep disruption, anxiety, and attention fragmentation. You might be wondering how to protect your kids without completely isolating them. The good news is that you do n...

In an era where our lives are intertwined with screens, the concept of a digital detox has emerged as both a necessity and a revelation.

Have you ever wondered how stepping away from your devices might reshape your emotional landscape? This is the journey that students at Loyola University embarked on, guided by the insightful Dr. Shreya Hessler.

Her groundbreaking course, "Digital Detox: Doing Nothing and Doing Well," challenges t...

An in-depth conversation with a veteran superintendent on why digital safety isn't optional—and how a rural Kansas district is leading by example.

When I first sat down with Paul Larkin, superintendent of Syracuse USD 494 in Western Kansas, I wasn't expecting a conversation that would stay with me for days.

There was no script. No sweeping rhetoric. Just truth—clear, steady, and hard-won.

Paul has served in public educ...

I want to start with a story. Not one from my childhood—but from today.

Last week, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a group of parents, educators, and advocates at the Kansas State Capitol. It wasn't a polished, pretty press moment. It was real and gritty—honest words in wood-paneled hearing rooms, the air thick with both urgency and hope. In front of lawmakers, we made the case for something simple, but increasingly r...

In one of the most grounded and deeply human conversations we've had the honor to be part of, Kevin and I sat down with Dr. Currie Myers—America's Criminologist—for an episode that reached well beyond crime statistics and research papers.

It reached into the heart of why we do this work.

Because behind every warning about online risk, behind every school training or digital wellness tool we design, there are stories. ...