Beyond Screen Time: Kids and Technology, Without the Hand-Wringing

In this session, occupational therapist and Think Sensory co-founder Mick Olds joins host Greg Santucci to talk about kids and screens without the fear or the guilt. Mick holds a Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Oklahoma, has worked mostly in schools, and writes about play as The OccuPLAYtional Therapist. Mick is also the parent of two young kids, and much of the conversation comes from their own family's choices.

Mick starts by taking apart the phrase "screen time." If a sentence would not mean the same thing with Tetris, Roblox, and FaceTiming grandma swapped in, the speaker means something more specific, and Mick offers pairs for naming it: alone or communal, handheld or stable, online or offline, creative or consumptive, short-form or long-form. Mick shows how a named concern becomes a clear limit, using their decision to give their kids iPads with the Wi-Fi off, and explains why infinite novelty is what keeps kids and adults hooked. Mick then asks what a child is getting from a screen, whether belonging, power, regulation, creativity, or sensory input, and how to build more of that into their life. Greg and Mick trade stories about joining kids in their screen interests with comments instead of quizzing. Mick is candid about their own screen use and the questions they ask themselves about modeling, and closes with their handout, All the Things You Get to Do.

Therapists, educators, and parents will come away with words for naming what worries them, ways to take a screen-based interest offline, and honest questions about their own phone habits. Grounded in Mick's clinical work and their own parenting, this session is practical, funny, and free of moralizing.