Navigating Digital Exposure in Our Children’s Lives

 Screens, Sanity, and the Slow Creep of Cognitive Collapse

I’ve got four kids. I’ve also got four different versions of parenting under my belt. My oldest, Riley, is 18 now. When he was little, I was a single mom doing what I could to survive. Screens were sometimes the babysitter—because I needed to shower. Because I needed a damn break. Because Thomas the Tank Engine bought me 30 minutes of silence and a tiny shred of peace.

Fast forward to now—Hayden is 11, the twins (Everett and Oliver) are 7—and the way we handle screen time in my house today? Completely different.

Not because I became a Pinterest-perfect parent.

Because I started paying attention.

Because the world around us is changing.

Because I started asking why everything felt so much harder.

Why so many kids seemed dysregulated, distracted, checked-out.

And why interacting with people—even adults—started feeling like wading through wet cement.

So I dug. And what I found wasn’t just a parenting challenge. It was a societal shift.

Here’s what we know about screen time and kids.

Not “opinions.” Not TikTok takes. Hard science.

• Children exposed to high screen time before age 5 show measurable changes in brain structure—especially in the white matter that supports language, literacy, and executive function (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, 2019).
• Kids who spend more than 2 hours per day on screens have lower scores on thinking and language tests, and reduced ability to complete cognitive tasks independently (NIH, Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study).
• High screen time is associated with higher rates of ADHD symptoms, anxiety, and depression—especially when use starts young or replaces unstructured play, physical movement, and face-to-face interaction.
• And yes, it’s strongly linked to childhood obesity, poor sleep, and delayed social-emotional development.

And it’s not getting better. According to the AAP, over 40% of babies are now regular screen users before they can walk.

But here’s the part no one wants to talk about:

This isn’t just about kids zoning out with an iPad.

We’re rewiring their brains before they’ve even fully formed.

We’re trading frictionless convenience for critical development.

And we’re doing it in a world that’s only getting faster, louder, and harder to survive in.

Screens aren’t evil. But when they become the default—when they replace real conversation, problem-solving, imagination, and physical presence—our kids lose more than just attention spans.

They lose resilience. Curiosity. Emotional regulation. Cognitive agility.

The stuff that doesn’t just help them function in society—but build one.

Here’s what I’ve changed in my own house:

• I stopped trying to “limit screen time” and started deprioritizing it. I make other things more exciting, more accessible, more rewarding.
• We use the Yuka app to keep neurotoxins out of our pantry and products—because I’m not giving my kids high-fructose hand soap and red dye cereal if I can help it.
• We talk. We move. We make messes. We read. I build their tolerance for “boredom” because boredom is a doorway to creativity, not a problem to solve with content.

And you know what? I see the difference.

In their sleep. In their attention. In their behavior.

It’s not magic. It’s biology.

If you’re reading this as a parent who’s struggling: I get it.

I’ve handed a toddler a tablet so I could meet a deadline.

I’ve let PBS play so I could cry in the bathroom for five minutes.

This isn’t about guilt. It’s about wakefulness.

We are raising kids in a world that is not built for their brains.

And if we want to give them a shot at thriving—not just coping—we have to stop numbing their nervous systems for the sake of quiet.

We can’t afford to keep raising the next generation in front of screens while we wonder why everything feels a little dumber, a little harder, a little more broken.

This is the wake-up call.

And no one’s going to enforce it but us.