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ScreenStrong Families — Kids & Family
ScreenStrong Families

After her oldest son, Adam, dropped out of college due to his video game addiction, Melanie Hempe, BSN, put her nursing degree and training from Emory University to good use and founded ScreenStrong. It’s her mission to create educational programs for kids and parents so no one will experience the pain of screen addiction. Her ability to simplify medical science and provide practical solutions for families has allowed her to share her passion and bold screen solutions nationally. ScreenStrong has won the hearts of many families who are preventing and reversing childhood screen conflicts and addiction.

Host of the popular weekly ScreenStrong Families Podcast, Melanie has been featured in Psychology Today, Thrive-Global, The Wall Street Journal, A&E Network, CBS, CNN, NPR, the documentary Screened Out, and various news and television outlets. Her ScreenStrong Kids’ Brains and Screens Courses are available for parents and students. Her four books include, “Kids’ Brains & Screens: A ScreenStrong Student Course,” “Will Your Gamer Survive College?” “Can Your Teen Survive—and Thrive—Without a Smartphone?” and “The ScreenStrong Solution: How to Free Your Child from Addictive Screen Habits.”

Copyright: © 2024 Families Managing Media Inc

Latest Episodes:

The Myth of the Forbidden Fruit with Melanie Hempe (#97) Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

Join us in today's episode where Melanie unpacks the myth of the forbidden fruit. This myth is based on the theory that if you limit an activity that your children desperately want, they will long for it even more, it will make it more appealing, and they will binge on technology when they are older and/or in college.

Melanie emphasizes that ScreenStrong is not about supporting the removal of screens from a family's life as that is just not possible in the day and age that we live in. She points out the brain science that debunks the myth of the forbidden fruit, such as the concept of neuronal pruning and pathways, the developmental areas of the brain in adolescence, and how dopamine plays a role during the teenage years.

ScreenStrong is about increasing awareness of toxic screen use in our daily lives, education on how toxic screen use negatively impacts our children's development and supporting family values of connection and community when raising our children.

This episode is short, sweet, and full of ScreenStrong inspiration!

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

A Coach’s Perspective with Zachary Church (#96) Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

Join us today as Melanie welcomes Zachary Church, a High School Varsity Swim Coach and an Assistant Coach for a Cross Country Track and Field Program. His main purpose in coaching is to “make a positive impact on individual lives, especially teenagers.”

Zach shares with us his unique perspective on the impact of screen use by teenagers in his role as a coach at his High School and in the community. Zach talks about the important life skills that can be developed through a teenager’s involvement in sports. He also shares the obstacles toxic screen use can have on a student athlete’s sports performance and team experience.

Additionally, Melanie and Zach discuss how the influence of social media has robbed the attention of parents and kids alike and how it has changed the family-centered attachment to a generational gap of disconnection.

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

33 Hours: A ScreenStrong Family's Story with Ali Pfister (#95) Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Today Melanie welcomes Ali Pfister, one of ScreenStrong’s Ambassadors, who shares her journey of creating her family’s ScreenStrong Lifestyle. Ali and her husband have four young kids under the age of 10 and they have been living ScreenStrong for about 3 years now.

Ali shareS how she began educating herself when her second son was identified with a speech delay at the age of 18 months to learn how she could best help him. Through her reading, she became aware of how technology affects child development and she shared that she had a “call to action” that prompted an immediate change in her family’s lifestyle.

This episode is full of passionate inspiration and positive energy that may just be “the call to action” for your family! Listen as Ali shares how she became an actively engaged parent and how she cultivated her children’s sibling bond as well as her and her husband’s parental bond with their four children.

This is a must-listen episode for all parents that will inspire you to not only change your family’s lifestyle but also encourage and educate others to do the same.

REFERENCES: mindfulfamilytech.com

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

The Teenage Sleep Crisis with Heather Turgeon & Julie Wright (#94) Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

Today, Melanie welcomes Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright, marriage and family therapists and the co-authors of The Happy Sleeper and the forthcoming Generation Sleepless: Why Tweens and Teens Aren’t Sleeping Enough and How We Can Help Them. Heather Turgeon, MFT writes about child development and parenting. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, and she is a writer for The National Sleep Foundation. Julie Wright, MFT is a marriage and family therapist with an extensive background in infant mental health and early childhood development. She specializes in mindful parenting, sleep issues, and attachment theory.

In this episode, Heather and Julie focus on the science behind the teen brain and why sleep is so important for development during their teenage years. They discuss the benefits of getting adequate sleep as well as the high costs of inadequate sleep. Heather and Julie share the optimal duration of sleep, the remodeling and pruning that occurs during sleep, the system of brain detox generated by sleep, and the importance of having time for all the stages of your sleep cycle. The costs of sleep deprivation are also discussed, and the role screens play in stealing sleep from our teens. Lastly, they share tips on how to build new routines of healthy sleep habits, build connections within the family, and ways they hope to create an impactful societal shift within the community.

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

Growing Up Without a Smartphone with Joel May (#93) Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

Today Melanie welcomes Joel May, a Youth Pastor and a Director of Youth Ministries at a local church in North Carolina. One of the unique things about Joel is that he was raised without a smartphone or video games. This lack of toxic technology growing up allowed for him to develop his identity independent of others or needing external validation through social media. He found his identity through extracurricular activities ranging from music, athletics, and theater to his church involvement with various community service projects. He attributes his unique outlook to his parents, who raised him and his siblings with a strong sense of work ethic, responsibility, and independence to develop strong life skills.

In this episode, Melanie and Joel discuss the addiction and dependency on screens by teenagers and the struggle it presents for families. He provides his perspective on how toxic technology use becomes a barrier to connection, fellowship, and community building, and goes against the fundamentals of what it means to be human. Melanie and Joel discuss the difficult subject of pornography, and Joel shares his perspective on how exposure to pornography is affecting our children and our culture through toxic technology. Joel offers us his thoughts on what to do if you find your child using pornography, and he also provides us with a list of skills and advantages that kids with low-tech exposure can develop.

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

How School Screens Impact Social Emotional Learning with Dr. Richard Freed (#92) Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

Today, Melanie welcomes back Dr. Richard Freed, author of Wired Child and a practicing Clinical Psychologist and supervisor studying the effects of technology on children. He is on the advisory board of ScreenStrong and is a contributor to many well-respected publications. A link to Dr. Freed’s article, The Tech Industry’s War on Kids, is included in the show notes.

Melanie asks Richard to provide our listeners his perspective on frequently asked questions from parents related to screens in the classroom, how to modify and/or request help with reducing screen use for homework, how to request a support letter for an in-school accommodation for your child, and one of the most difficult questions to answer, what to say to your child that is struggling with addictive behaviors.

Their discussion addresses how technology has changed the school experience and learning opportunities for our children, which have significantly impacted children's development of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which encompasses the growth of personal identity, communication, empathy, and healthy connections with parents, teachers, and coaches within the overall community setting. Lastly, Melanie and Richard provide an overview of tips pulled from their conversation today with an emphasis on strong parenting, reducing screens in schools, and re-establishing the strong guidance and love our kids need from us from elementary through high school and beyond.

REFERENCES: The Tech Industry’s War on Kids by Dr. Richard Freed

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

Debunking Screen Myths with Andrew & Evan Hempe (#91) Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

For today’s episode, Evan and Andrew Hempe respond to common questions from parents about toxic screen use, drawing from their own experiences growing up without video games, smartphones, or social media.

Evan and Andrew are Juniors in high school who are enjoying and thriving on living a full ScreenStrong lifestyle. They are both active in multiple extracurricular activities, including sports and music—as well as actively learning life skills like finding their way around town with a paper map without depending on GPS for directions!

Listen and be inspired as the Hempe boys—in their eloquent way—dispel some of the myths of technology that fool many parents, and also encourage parents to spend daily quality time with their children and to love them enough to say no to toxic screens.

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

Questioning Smartphone Contracts (#90) Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Melanie tackles two of the most common issues concerning smartphones and your kids and teens: the age of 13 as the "appropriate age" of having a smartphone and the concept of phone contracts.

For the first issue, Melanie responds to the question of "Why do parents believe that 13 has become the new age of adulthood on the internet?" The answer may surprise you. For the second issue, Melanie challenges the concept of the family phone contract. She stresses that healthy activities do not require contracts, which leads to the question, how is your family's phone contract working for you?

Episode References:
COPPA imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age. (REFERENCE)

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

A Teacher’s Perspective with Teralea Moore (#89) Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode, Melanie welcomes her longtime friend, Teralea Moore, who is a mother and college math professor with 20+ years of teaching in the classroom. Teralea has taught in high school, community college, and private college settings, and she shares with us her experiences of how technology has changed her classroom experience over the years.

Teralea discusses the differences in an online learning platform versus in-person learning and emphasizes how teaching is truly a hands-on experience for both the student and the teacher, optimizing active learning and group collaboration—important skills for our children to develop. Teralea discusses the timing of when calculators or other web-based tools are introduced, the use of computers for note-taking, Google’s influence on homework and test-taking, the difficulties in learning from video-based teaching models, and the smartphone’s role in cheating.

Teralea encourages parents to help their children create effective and quiet homework areas that limit distractions of noise and cellphone use, and emphasize the use of textbooks and on building focused learning habits. She offers tips for parents to help their children build the necessary skills and habits through elementary and high school years that will help prepare them for their future college years.

This episode is full of ideas and tips to help you in whatever stage of schooling your children are at as we focus on the basic skills to build a foundation for your future college students to launch from.

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

Social Media’s Effect on Girls (#88) Feb 09, 2022

Show notes

Did you know that since 2007, suicide rates have doubled and that since 2010, rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide have increased more in girls than boys? Did you know that girls are 3 times more likely to be depressed than boys? Listen in as Melanie delves into the link between social media use and how it is adversely affecting the development of self-esteem, identity formation, interpersonal relational skills, and emotional well-being in girls. She also discusses how social media use reduces intellectual abilities, impulse control, one’s immune system, and sleep. Lastly, Melanie emphasizes the importance of family and parental connection and recommends several interventions parents can put into action today. Whether you have a daughter or not, this is an episode you will not want to miss.

Other Citations: Decreases in psychological well-being among American adolescents after 2012 and links to screen time during the rise of smartphone technology.

Support the show

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!

Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!
Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!
Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.
Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!

ScreenStrong Tech Recommendations

Canopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)

Production Team:

Host: Melanie Hempe
Producer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

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