Parent Tech

Twenty years of research on kids and tech and a new report lead to an inescapable conclusion: managing technology in your family never really stops. It's a cycle –– and most of us are already in it.

In this episode of Parent Tech, I sit down with Amanda Lenhart, lead researcher and author of the Family Tech Cycle report from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. She's spent more than two decades studying how kids and families use technology –– and she's raised four kids across very different tech eras herself.

In today’s episode, we talk about:

• What the Family Tech Cycle actually is — and why it starts earlier than most parents think
• What happened when researchers asked kids to design their own dream phone
• Why hard time limits can backfire socially for kids — and what they actually want instead
• The financial realities of parenting around tech that don't get talked about enough
• Generative AI and the chatbot attachment problem — why it's already showing up in lawsuits
• How Amanda gave her own 12-year-old her first smartphone, what she allowed, what she didn't, and how it helped create more open conversations in the home

In this episode:

00:00 Introduction to Amanda Lenhart and the Family Tech Cycle Report

01:45 How Kids Grow Up in Tech "Micro-Generations" — Even Within the Same Family

04:00 From Instant Messaging to Social Media: 20 Years of Watching Kids Online

08:30 How the Cultural Conversation Around Tech Has Gotten More Complex

09:30 What Is the Family Tech Cycle and Why Does It Matter?

10:00 The Co-Design Methodology: Letting Kids Build Their Dream Phone

14:30 What Kids Actually Want: Fairness, Transparency, and Social Continuity

17:00 Why Hard Time Limits Can Backfire Socially for Kids

18:00 Why Parents Correct Kids — And What Gets Lost When They Do

19:00 The Financial Realities of Parenting Around Tech

21:00 Why Better Product Defaults Would Change Everything for Families

23:30 Family Media Contracts: What They Are and How to Use Them

24:00 The Script for Talking to Your Kid About Screen Time Rules

26:30 Parenting in a Blended Family With Different Tech Philosophies

27:00 The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the Legacy of Sesame Street

30:00 What Research Says About Educational Apps — and What Gets in the Way

31:00 Generative AI and Kids: The Opportunities and the Real Risks

35:00 AI Slop, Algorithmic Content, and What It's Doing to Young Children

36:00 The Chatbot Attachment Problem — and Why It's Already Showing Up in Lawsuits

39:00 Bifurcating AI Use Cases: Tutor vs. Therapist vs. Best Friend

42:00 Amanda's Own Story: Giving Her 12-Year-Old Her First Smartphone

47:00 How They Set Up the Phone — And Why It Took Six Hours

49:00 YouTube as the New TV: How Amanda Thinks About It at Home

51:00 The Goal: A Beautiful Childhood and a Functional Digital Adulthood

Good design makes parenting easier. Bad design makes it harder. 

In this episode I talk to Jorge Fino, VP of Design at Nex — one of TIME's 100 most influential companies of 2026 and the company behind the Playground, an active play system. It's clear to me how much Jorge thinks about the role of technology in family life. We got into the design decisions behind the Playground and I came away thinking more deeply about the topic. 

In this conversation, we cover:

• What an "active play system" actually is — and why it's a deliberate departure from traditional gaming consoles
• The autonomy insight: why Jorge thinks kids melt down over tablets but not TVs, and what it tells us
• "Sedentary time management" — the parenting struggle that's been around since the radio, and why infinite scroll made it so much harder
• Why Jorge doesn't see screens as the source of the problem — and a 17th-century artist analogy that reframes things
• How to coordinate with other parents when social pressure makes it hard to hold the line on phones and social media
• The difference between a consumption device and a creation device — and why it matters more than screen time minutes

00:00 Introduction to Jorge Fino and the Nex Playground

01:00 From Basketball Training App to Active Play System — How Playground Was Born

03:00 Modeling an Active Lifestyle for Your Kids

04:00 Gamifying Physical Movement and Building Healthy Habits

05:00 Why Group Play Works — The Psychology of "I Could Do That"

07:00 Designing for the Heart of the Home, Not Just the Bedroom

09:00 Pretend Play and Natural Intuition as the Foundation for Gameplay

10:00 Why Playground Is the Fastest Setup Jorge's Ever Seen Ship

11:00 Experimenting With Motion — What Works, What Doesn't, and the Sweat Scale

13:00 Using Your Body as the Controller — and What That Unlocks Creatively

16:00 Building a Games Team From Scratch Without a Games Background

17:00 Sedentary Time Management: The Parenting Struggle That Started With the Radio

21:00 Intentional Design Choices That Help

22:00 Privacy in the Living Room — Why Trust Was the First Design Principle

24:00 Sustaining Trust With Families Over Time

25:00 Playing With Grandparents Across the Globe — The Multiplayer Feature On The Way

27:00 Bigger Screens vs. Smaller Screens — What Actually Works for Families

28:00 Jorge's Autonomy Insight: Why Taking the Tablet Away Is Harder Than Turning Off the TV

31:00 Moving Past "Devices Are Bad" Toward More Intentional Thinking

32:00 The 17th Century Artist Analogy — Reframing the Screen Time Conversation

36:00 Jorge's Philosophy at Home: Technology as a Tool, Not a Villain

37:00 The Signed Contract He Made His Own Kids Sign

38:00 No Social Media, Screen Time Controls, and Why He's Holding That Line

39:00 Social Pressure From Other Parents — and How Real It Gets

40:00 Coordinating With Other Parents: The Jonathan Haidt Approach

41:00 What Jorge's Kids Have Actually Created With Technology

43:00 Wrapping Up: How to Find Jorge Fino and the Nex Playground

The best kids tech experiences don't happen by accident. They follow from someone designing carefully for a specific situation.

In this episode of Parent Tech, I sit down with Nichole Rouillac, CEO of industrial design studio level and mom of two, to hear how she thinks about technology for her kids. We cover what she's actually doing and why.

Nichole has worked with Microsoft, Logitech, Tempo, and Nex, and has a thoughtful approach to kids tech. She's been thinking about this stuff for years from a different vantage point than most parents.

We get into:
- Her work with the team at Nex on the Playground — the cube shape, the colors, and the monocle camera cover
- How audiobooks and Osmo helped her daughter become an avid reader
- The Tonie Box, Yoto, Tin Can Phone, and Apple Watch — what she chose for each of her kids and why
- Parental controls — what she actually does and why it still takes effort
- How her 12-year-old uses Roblox, Minecraft, and coding as both social and creative outlets
- Her device and app recommendations for different ages

Resources mentioned:
My Nex Playground review: www.parent.tech/p/nex-playground-review-all-is-forgiven
Ash Brandin's Power On (referenced in episode): www.parent.tech/p/book-review-power-on
Joan Ganz Cooney Center family tech cycle report: joanganzcooneycenter.org/publication/the-family-tech-cycle

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Learn more about Nichole and level at www.leveldesignsf.com

00:00 Introduction
01:00 Nichole's background — designing for families as a mom and studio CEO
01:28 The Nex Playground design story
05:29 The monocle — designing a camera cover
07:29 How Nichole thinks about kids and technology
10:38 Screen time philosophy and her two kids
12:24 Social screen time — Roblox, Minecraft, and staying connected with classmates
13:29 Parental controls — what works and what still takes effort
15:06 The Tin Can Phone
16:30 The Apple Watch and giving her daughter independence
18:02 How technology helped her daughter love reading
20:49 Osmo — physical letter tiles and the iPad
23:44 What to look for in education technology
26:24 Independence and devices designed for kids to use on their own
28:07 Her 12-year-old's interests — coding, robotics, writing her own video games
33:53 YouTube as a starting point — balloon animals, cooking, crafts
39:15 Device and app recommendations — Yoto, Osmo, Endless Reader, KiwiCo, Nex Playground
41:01 Family favorites on the Nex Playground
42:06 Closing

In today’s episode of Parent Tech, we sit down with Kristen Kim, creator of the award-winning podcast Culture Kids, to explore how sound, storytelling, and imagination can transform the way children learn about the world.

Kristen shares how immersive audio adventures help kids develop empathy, focus, and creativity, while also giving parents a meaningful alternative to screen time. From building safe creative spaces to navigating extracurricular chaos, collaborating with an 8-year-old, and creating a neighborhood “village,” this conversation is packed with practical advice for families.

We also dig into:

•  Why audio learning activates a child’s brain like reading
•  How to introduce cultural diversity through stories
•  Simple language shifts that spark curiosity instead of judgment
•  Using sound and music to regulate emotions at home

📌 Subscribe for more conversations helping parents navigate tech, creativity, and raising kids in a fast-changing world.

Get more from Culture Kids at https://www.culturekidsmedia.com/

In this episode: 
00:00 — What is Culture Kids?
05:38 — Weekly production + managing creativity with a child
07:00 — Respecting kids as creative partners
10:08 — Cultural gateways: Pokémon, Totoro, Bluey, and beyond
11:13 — Cultivating awe, wonder & curiosity in kids
15:14 — The role of sound design in emotional learning
16:55 — Using music to build connection at the end of episodes 
17:40 — How audio learning strengthens imagination & attention spans
20:17 — Audio vs. reading: what brain science says
24:00 — Should parents make a podcast with their kids?
26:12 — Screen time philosophy: intentionality over restriction
29:40 — When kids surprise you with what they learned
31:00 — Extracurriculars, hobbies & shaping identity
38:40 — You don’t have to do it alone: building your own village
39:20 — What parents want most—and how to start
40:00 — What Kristen is excited about in kids’ tech

In this episode of Parent Tech, I sit down with Al Nowatzki, a generative AI QA lead, to discuss the impact of AI and AI companions on children and parenting. We also take a trip down memory lane, discussing Al's experience hosting a Star Wars podcast with his kids, which helped spark discussions about real-world issues through fiction. 

We discuss AI companions among teens, with Al emphasizing the need for parents to be proactive and informed about the technology. If you’re thinking about your child’s interactions with AI companions, this episode will give you some strategies to help navigate the topic. 

Some of the studies referenced:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/talk-trust-and-trade-offs_2025_web.pdf
https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/press-release/new-report-reveals-how-risky-and-unchecked-ai-chatbots-are-the-new-go-to-for-millions-of-children/

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00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:39 Children of the Force Podcast Journey

07:14 Generative AI and Kids' Relationships

10:18 Parental Guidance in the Age of AI

14:19 Potential and Risks of AI Companions

18:26 Introduction to Parasol Cooperative

18:44 The Role of Ruth the Chatbot

20:28 AI Safety and Ethical Considerations

21:07 Generative AI and Children

22:16 Parenting in the Digital Age

27:58 Explaining AI to Kids

36:24 Regulation

In this episode of Parent Tech, I sit down with Ash Brandin, IG: TheGamerEducator, and the author of the upcoming book “Power On.” We discuss practical strategies for managing screen time, the importance of creating systems and rules, and the ways screens can be effectively integrated into family life. 

Ash shares insights from their background as an educator, outlining the 'ABCs of Screen Time' and how to balance access, behavior, and content. We also discuss the motivations behind gaming and how to approach both introducing and managing technology with kids. Whether you're wondering how to introduce your child to video games or you're concerned about screen time, Ash offers valuable, actionable advice. 

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00:00 Introduction to Ash Brandin: Gamer Educator and Author

02:41 The Importance of Systems in Managing Screen Time

03:13 Unlearning and Reframing Screen Time

03:43 The ABCs of Screen Time: Access, Behavior, Content

04:25 Creating Effective Rules and Boundaries

06:52 Understanding Underlying Skills and Deficits

12:35 Smartphones and Digital Literacy

14:40 The Role of Video Games in Skill Development

23:36 The Impact of Free-to-Play Games

29:20 Parental Involvement in Gaming

32:43 Intentionality in Introducing Games to Kids

36:24 Balancing Gaming and Other Interests

38:42 Introducing and Managing Game Time

51:07 Wrapping Up: How to Find Ash Brandin and Their New Book

In this episode of Parent Tech, I talk with Dr. Susan Walker, Professor Emeritus of Family and Social Science at the University of Minnesota and the author of a textbook on technology and the family. We cover the historical context of parenting and how today's technology fits into a much longer story.

We explore how parenting is different today and the ways parents use technology. Dr. Walker offers a grounded, judgment-free perspective: parenting has always been about your values, your goals, and the tools you choose to use to support them.

Whether you're figuring out screen time, exploring tracking apps, or just trying to feel a little more confident—this conversation will remind you that you’re not alone, and there are methods to navigate through it.

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Dr. Walker’s textbook:

https://open.lib.umn.edu/technologyfamily/

Have you ever wondered how the apps your kids use are designed? Or wish they were designed better? In this episode we'll go inside Pok Pok, an Apple-award-winning kids app that's designed to promote calm play and exploration. This conversation with Pok Pok Founder and CEO Melissa Cash and Founder and Chief Creative Officer Esther Huybreghts covers screens and parenting, their design process, and how investors responded to their idea to make an app with no ads, no levels or points, and no text.

Parent Tech is a project led by Andrew Hogan to explore how parents, kids, and technology interact. It covers screen time, smartphones, AI, and more.

Learn more about Pok Pok here and get a 7-day trial and 25% off annual subscription, plus you'll support Parent Tech.

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