Podcast
The Screen Guardians Podcast
Hosted by Katie Longhauser · EN
Helping parents navigate screen time, social media, and online safety — grounded in research, not fear.
The Screen Guardians Podcast is your go-to resource for digital wellness and screen time guidance for kids and teens. Hosted by parent, educator, and digital health advocate Katie Longhauser, each episode helps families take the guesswork out of screen time, social media, apps, gaming, and online safety.
This isn't about control — it's about empowerment. Because raising kids in the digital age doesn't come with a manual, but it should come with guidance you trust.
Every episode is designed to help you:
• Understand how developing brains respond to screens, dopamine, and social media
• Get practical, research-backed strategies for building healthy digital habits
• Navigate social media, gaming, online predators, and digital footprints with confidence
• Feel calm and capable instead of overwhelmed and alone
Whether you're parenting a toddler with a tablet or a teen with a group chat, you'll find honest conversations, expert interviews, and real tools you can use tonight.
Not anti-technology. Pro-child. You don't have to navigate screen time alone.
🎧 Learn more, join the newsletter, and explore the Parent Portal at thescreenguardians.com
20episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Why Digital Health Starts at Home (And How Our New Parent Portal Can Help)
Mar 500:16:27Tap to summarizeParenting 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 not have to figure it out alone. Kids Digital Health Hub and Screen Guardians have officially launched our Parent Portal. In this guide, we will show you how this digital library equips you with the knowledge to create a safe digital home. https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/parent-portal-digital-health-at-home/
Transcribe →Digital Detox for Emotional Resilience: Lessons from a University Course with Dr. Shreya Hessler
Feb 2400:41:09Tap to summarizeIn 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 the status quo, offering students a chance to reconnect with themselves and their peers in meaningful ways. Join us as we explore how this innovative approach is cultivating emotional resilience, redefining engagement in a screen-saturated world, and uncovering the profound benefits of intentionally unplugging. https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/digital-detox-for-emotional-resilience/
Transcribe →A superintendent's honest take: Why screen education matters more than ever
Feb 1200:29:54Tap to summarizeAn 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 education for more than 30 years—as a teacher, coach, principal, and now as superintendent for nearly a decade. He's seen technology arrive and evolve in classrooms. He remembers the time before cell phones. He was there when the "one-to-one device" model was first celebrated as a tool for equity. And now? Now, he's watching kids fall asleep in class after scrolling on school-issued devices until 3 a.m. Now, he's listening to kindergarten teachers say: "We're done—we don't want iPads in our classrooms anymore." Now, he worries—not because he's anti-tech, but because he's honest about what's happening. Full shownotes - https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/digital-safety-in-schools/
Transcribe →Supporting anxious kids in a digital world: why education—not restriction—is the real answer
Feb 200:47:06Tap to summarizeIn a world where likes and comments feel like lifelines, where digital conversations unfold faster than emotions can catch up, our kids are navigating a reality we never had to. If you've ever wondered why your child seems more anxious than you were at their age—or why they retreat behind a screen when the world feels too much—you're not alone. We recently sat down with licensed professional counselor Morgan Lee for an honest conversation about what anxiety looks like in today's youth, how technology is part of the picture, and what parents can do to help. This episdode is grounded in that conversation, gently unpacking some of the most pressing mental health concerns facing families today. And maybe most importantly—it's a reminder that none of us are doing this alone. https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/kids-anxiety-and-screen-time-what-helps/
Transcribe →A New Page for Our Kids: What Bell-to-Bell Phone-Free Schools Might Offer Them—And Us
Jan 2300:44:33Tap to summarizeI 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 rare: classroom spaces where kids can learn, connect, and grow without the constant hum of a phone in their pocket. That's the heart of Senate Bill 302 here in Kansas—a bill that supports bell-to-bell phone-free school days. And in this week's episode of The Screen Guardians Podcast, I had the honor of discussing this moment, and the bigger movement it belongs to, with my friend and fellow advocate, Kim Whitman. Kim isn't just a voice in this space—she's a leader. She's helped launch the Phone-Free Schools Movement, co-leads the nonprofit Smartphone Free Childhood U.S., and is helping districts and families across the country imagine something better: schools where real connection and real learning take priority. https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/bell-to-bell-phone-free-schools-report/
Transcribe →Listening between the lines: A conversation about digital safety, from the inside out with Dr. Currie Myers
Jan 200:51:16Tap to summarizeIn 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. Family stories. Police reports that start with a parent's voice cracking on the phone. Classroom moments when a child sheepishly confesses something they've seen but wish they hadn't. There's the stillness in a teacher's face when they realize how much they didn't know they were supposed to protect kids from—the kind of dangers that don't show up in textbooks. And that's what we talked about with Dr. Myers. Not just the "what" of digital safety. But the "why."
Transcribe →Kansas middle school limits Chromebooks to reduce screen time and improve student focus
Dec 2900:43:43Tap to summarizeIn recent years, the conversation around reducing screen time in schools has moved from quiet concern to active policy change. Educators, parents, and mental health professionals are paying closer attention to how constant tech use impacts student focus, emotional regulation, and classroom engagement. At the heart of this shift is a deeper question: Are our current digital practices truly supporting learning—or simply becoming the norm without reflection? At McPherson Middle School in Kansas, one principal decided to pause, reassess, and lead with intention. What followed was a bold reimagining of how—and when—technology should serve students. https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/reducing-screen-time-in-schools/
Transcribe →What Screens Can't Teach: A Conversation About the Growing Cost of Digital Learning with Susan Dunaway
Dec 1200:56:48Tap to summarizeThis episode explores the powerful connection between digital learning and brain development, featuring insights from neurotherapist Susan Dunaway. From screen-based reading to educational apps in early childhood, we examine how technology in schools may be reshaping cognitive growth, memory, and emotional regulation in ways parents and educators can no longer afford to overlook. https://kidsdigitalhealthhub.com/digital-learning-and-brain-development-behind-screens/
Transcribe →When School Devices Aren't as Safe as we Think: Guest Andy Liddell
Nov 2000:59:15Tap to summarizeWhen a kindergartener walks into their classroom, the space is built for them. The chairs are small. The crayons are thick. The books are softbound and full of pictures. Slowly, over the years, their world expands—more words, more tools, more responsibility as their brains and bodies are ready for it. But when it comes to technology in schools, something is off. We're handing our youngest students open access to the digital equivalent of an AP chemistry lab—filled with volatile content, complex systems, and doors that lead to strangers, exploitation, and surveillance. And unlike the careful safety protocols we apply to real-world materials, we don't yet have the same safeguards for the devices and platforms our children use every day. This is the reality Andy Liddell, principal at the EdTech Law Center, laid bare on a recent episode of the Screen Guardians Podcast. His law center represents families in cases where kids have been harmed by school-issued technology—through data mining, unsafe digital access, online exploitation, and broken systems that don't know how (or when) to intervene. This isn't a fear-based narrative. It's a truth-based one. And it's more urgent than most people realize.
Transcribe →Running Toward the Hard Conversations: A Story of Heartbreak, Hope, and Digital Safety - Conversation with Ben Tracy
Nov 1001:06:44Tap to summarizeI've always believed in the power of a story—especially when it comes from someone who's lived every moment of it. That's why I invited Ben Tracy onto the Screen Guardians platform. Ben isn't just a digital safety advocate. He's a man who ran across the United States—3,100 miles, 125 days, 120 marathons—all for one purpose: to draw attention to the ways digital harm is impacting our kids. And he isn't here for buzzwords or vague warnings. He's here to talk about what's real—about the lives we've lost, the lives we can still protect, and the hard conversations every parent, educator, school, and student needs to have.
Transcribe →