← The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
1KHO 557: Raising Originals in a World of Clones | Andrew and Evan Hempe, ScreenStrong
00:59:00
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- [00:00]
Jenny Urch
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Andrew Hempy
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Jenny Urch
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Andrew Hempy
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Jenny Urch
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Andrew Hempy
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Jenny Urch
Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Jenny Urch. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside and I have been super excited about these guests for a long time. They are young. You are going to love to hear from them. It's Melanie Hempy, son, so from Screenstrong. Andrew and Evan, welcome.
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Evan Hempy
Hello.
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Andrew Hempy
Thank you so much for having us.
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Evan Hempy
Happy to be here.
- [00:50]
Jenny Urch
So this is a really big deal and we've had a couple younger people on the show and giving their perspective because we're old. So I don't really know what it's like to grow up in a world steep with screens. And I do think that we are not empathetic enough as adults to what that might be like and that sort of plight and how that affects childhood. And so your mom has been on. Melanie talked about the story of your family. The older brother's somewhat screen addicted and so she makes this big change for the two of you and you are able to see this firsthand. You know, how do things change and where are we at now? But there's one particular thing that Melanie said that has really stuck with me for, I guess it's been probably over a year. I think about it often. So I want to kick it off here and then we'll get into all these other topics. There's a incredible curriculum that parents can get in their home, teachers can get for the school to help kids deal with their screen time. But one of the things she said is that when you went off to college, so your twins and you go off to college, and she said that one of the things that you noticed was that everyone sort of seems like a carbon copy of each other. So you're like, oh, I'm interested in girls, you know, but they all kind of seem the same. And someone had said that social media is the greatest conformity engine ever created. And I don't know if anybody really stops to think about the downstream effect of that. And I just read this book by Arthur Brooks where he was saying that actually we're all Looking for like the same, same, same compatibility. But he says you really have to complement each other. There has to be differences there in order to have a vibrant relationship. So that's one of the things. There's so many consequences of all of this screen time that there are little pockets of it that no one really talks about and couldn't really imagine. And I think this is a big one. So can you talk about the experience of going away to college and just noticing the, the homogenous and that's not even a word I'm struggling today.
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Evan Hempy
Yeah, yeah, Homogeneity.
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Jenny Urch
Everyone's the same. Okay, go. You go. You're ready?
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Andrew Hempy
Yeah. I think on that note, it's really interesting, like you said, social media is really a great conformity engine. And it's interesting because most people on social media are trying to be, quote, unquote different, but all in the exact same way. And so everyone ends up being exactly the same. And in a lot of ways, I mean, social media runs off an algorithm and then people see, it's almost like people perceive there's this algorithm for how to get more likes and how to get more followers and, oh, if I post this sort of content and give these sort of updates on my life, then it seems like I'll be more popular. And so then that results in everyone just doing the same things, desperately trying to gain the approval of others, which, you know, could not really be more shallow in, in terms of the way people are now seeking out their approval. But it is interesting the way that it, it does just crank out a lot of carbon copies of each other. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.
- [03:45]
Evan Hempy
Yeah, well, something that I try to do is, because you find kind of a lot of the similar people is I, I try to like, be really myself when I first meet somebody. It's kind of a litmus test where it's like if this person, you know, reacts in a certain way to. If I, like, I don't come at them with a lot of energy or like my humor, and if they react in the way that most people react, I'm like, I don't want to be friends with you, but if there's something I pick up on that's different about them, because everyone loves something that's different. Everyone wants to talk about things that are different. Nobody wants to talk about things that are just the same or monotonous, but yet everybody, you know, I think kind of without even knowing is, Is being sucked into this trap of this. Of conformity. So so when I meet people, I, I, I try to do things that will really get me a good gauge of whether I want to hang out with this person or whether this person is just another product of what they see and what they scroll on social media.
- [04:41]
Jenny Urch
So, yeah, I mean, it's really sad though, because it's not necessarily their fault. You almost become like this puppet and obviously it's starting with big tech, but then it's filtering down through the parents to. So talk to us then about dating. So, you know, you're in this stage of life where you want to date and you're kind of looking for someone who has unique qualities to them, who has life experiences, who's done stuff. Is it pretty easy to spot the difference between someone who spent a childhood on a screen and someone who spent a childhood doing things?
- [05:14]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah, definitely. I think it's, it's really easy to tell just by spending five minutes with someone if they're constantly checking their phone. I mean, this is, this is nothing revolutionary. People have been commenting on this all the time, how this is an issue in society, especially with people our age, who just never stop checking their phone. And that's immediately, for me, a red flag. If someone is that attached and dependent on their phone for everyday entertainment or it's like, I'm trying to have a conversation with you, but you can't even make it five minutes in a conversation without checking your phone. That's a real problem. So I'd say that's definitely a red flag. But even more so just all these, a whole bunch of people that don't have any thoughts of their own. They don't have anything to say that's actually their own because all of their time and energy is spent just consuming what other peoples have. Other people have produced and posted online and it produces a whole bunch of clones, which isn't very exciting.
- [06:14]
Evan Hempy
Yeah, it's kind of sad is when I, Again, back to the way kind of I approach people. If you can talk about interesting things, we'll be friends. Or Willie, you know, a girl that can talk about interesting things like, like history or music or like, you know, old TV shows, old movies and stuff. Especially growing up, we, you know, were very, our parents were like, you're going to understand these quotes, dang it. You know what I'm saying? Like the classics, right? The movies from the 50s and 60s and all that. So if I can find somebody who appreciates that as well, that's huge. But now with when everyone's just on social media scrolling and, you know, Just saying the lingo of today, nobody. Nobody has any knowledge of what used to be and where we came from. And so I think if I can find that you can talk about history and you can just talk about. Be. Just be interesting, have an opinion that's different that, you know, makes my ears perk up. Something like that. It's very simple. Right. Because everyone should be different. But it's. It's. It's hard to find, which is kind of interesting. But.
- [07:09]
Andrew Hempy
And I would say even just if someone. If a girl doesn't have social media, that's immediately red flag. Well, that's immediately a green because just being willing to take that first step to be different, make that choice to not be like everyone else. And then, of course, it produces a lot of other ways that that girl is unique as well. Like, that is immediately a huge. I'm like, wow, this girl is actually something special because she doesn't feel obligated to be exactly like everyone else.
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Evan Hempy
She can stand on her own two feet and make a decision in confidence. And confidence is huge.
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Andrew Hempy
Yeah, that's.
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Evan Hempy
That's the biggest thing. That's. You know, the people who often become the most successful are the most confident. And. And I think what's lost is now it's. People are. Are scared of, you know, of being confident, I think, so that it's just easier to blend in.
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Jenny Urch
That's powerful. It's powerful. It almost seems like it's really some small tweaks that can make you stand out.
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Andrew Hempy
Absolutely.
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Jenny Urch
Like, just don't have social media that. I mean, that's one. And don't be on your phone all the time. Leave it in your bag. These different types of things. I actually had a conversation with this man. He's in his 30s, so he's way older than you, but his name's Andrew Lacker and he's still single. And he has been using a flip phone since 2017 for a long time. And we have this whole podcast about it. And he works for this company called Humanality, where they're trying to just get people off their phones all the time. And people wrote in, they. They wrote in to me, and they were like, can I. Is there any way for me to get that guy's contact information? And we never had had that happen before, ever on any podcast episode. So it is. It is enticing, like you said, the confidence. And then also they're going to have a lot more going on for them. This is the thing that I think about a lot. Obviously, there's loneliness Problems.
- [08:48]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
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Jenny Urch
And there's less. People are getting married and family is important. You know, family is a big part of our happiness. So our friends. And there was this saying for a long time, there's a lot of fish in the sea. So, you know, you date someone, it doesn't work out. It's like, well, there's going to be somebody else. But I have found as a parent that it's. It has become trickier to find a friends for our kids or different people for them to date because of the screens. And that almost feels like it's not fair. It's like it's shrunk in the pool of applicants of people that you would want to spend time with. Can you talk about that? Obviously you wouldn't know the difference, but like, when I was growing up, most people were kind of eligible, you know, most people are eligible to be a friend or date or, you know, are they your type? But there was a lot of people to choose from. And it would seem like now there's even more because they're dating apps out there. However, it does feel like in general the pool of people has shrunk.
- [09:43]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah, that's definitely a social phenomenon. That is a result of in large part social media, which is supposed to make people allegedly more social, more connected to one another, has in a lot of ways had the opposite effect where people are less social. They aren't as good at carrying an actual conversation and maintaining eye contact. They aren't as empathetic. People don't have as substantial relationships. It's more just the transactional, give me a like and I'll give you a like. And that's. That's so sad. And then of course, the increase in anxiety and depression. It's all of these things that should be the opposite of something that makes us more social as people. All these things that have been linked to social media, which definitely leads you to wonder, is it really doing any of the things that we thought it would? Which the, the short answer is no. But to. To more respond to your question, yeah, it is really sad that that pool does seem like it's shrinking. And for me at least, it's just there's so many people that, you know, you don't want to write them off. You still want to be respectful, be a nice person. But so many people just seem to disqualify themselves automatically just because they don't bring anything to the table because all of their time has been spent just consuming all of the same things that everyone else is consuming online and there's just nothing unique about them. There's so many nuances and talents that are just going to waste because kids are spending their entire childhood on a screen when they should be developing real interpersonal skills, discovering the things they're good at, the things they want to be good at, you know, working hard on something to develop their own personality. When instead it's just, I'm going to say what I see other people saying online. I'm going to do what I see people doing online, and I'm going to be interested in what they are interested in all of these things. And yeah, it's almost like in one way it shrinks the pool because it. A lot of people seem to eliminate themselves through those choices, but in another way, it just seems like everyone's the same, which is another way of shrinking that pool.
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Evan Hempy
But.
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Jenny Urch
Yeah.
- [11:42]
Andrew Hempy
Do you have any thoughts?
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Evan Hempy
Yeah, well. And it can be. It can be easy to write those people off, you know, to say, you're shrunk in the pool. But I think one thing is that I know that from our experience and in later middle school, high school, and even college is we can be friends with about any. I can be friends with the Rock. He could talk to anybody, you know what I'm saying? Because we have these. Because we have those. We have these skills. And so I think when people who are consumed by this media or, you know, well, technically they've been consuming it, but they've actually kind of been consumed by it as well. They can look at people like us. Not that we're like the golden standard, but we just have things that people used to have. And they say, you know what? I want to spend time with them, I want to be around them. What do they have that's different about them? And I think you can, like, especially your kids are going through this, you know, maybe they're having trouble making friends. It's. If they just continue to be them and be. And enjoy the things that life has to offer outside of a screen and everything, I think people will really respect that. And when they have. When they do things, you know, like Andrew and I did music and sports and art and all that, and we had interesting, weird things to talk about. And we could. We could smile and laugh and have a good attitude. Attitude. We kind of just did the basics where people respected that and they wanted to be around that. And so then I think you'll have this pull of, oh, well, you know, we. We like them, we want to spend time with them, and when we're with them, we're not on our screens. We're not on, you know, we're not on anything like that. And I think they'll realize that they have a lot more fun doing that than they will just on their screen. But people just default to the screen because they think they don't have another option. Yeah, like, oh, there's nothing else to do, or. And it takes effort to, to, to go be different, to go seek that out. And so I think the law of least effort says that people are just going to do what's easiest for them. But I think if you have, you know, if you have examples in the, in their lives, like your kids, that, that can honestly, I know it sounds kind of corny and cheesy, but inspire them to, to be better, to. To seek for what, you know, what, what life has to offer more. I think it can really make a difference.
- [13:39]
Andrew Hempy
So, yeah, from what we've found, especially with our work at screenstrong, is a lot of people just need permission. Yeah, perhaps parents just need permission to go with their instinct that that phone isn't a good idea for their child or the kid. Just. A child just needs permission to actually explore something that makes them different, whether that's a talent that they have or something to create their own personality. A lot of times people just need permission to do those things that all these social engines seem to be suppressing.
- [14:06]
Jenny Urch
But, yeah, well, and you communicate it in a way that's enticing. And I think. And because it is, it is enticing. It's enticing to be confident. It's enticing to be able to talk to a rock. I mean, it's enticing to be able to have these parts of you that you love and you both have these hobbies that you love. And, and to know that some kids have none. And that is the goal of the screen manufacturers, is that kids have none, no hobbies, that people in general have nothing besides the screen. So it's compelling. It's permission plus something that's compelling. And I think that's powerful. And, and you hit a really good point that it permeates. And people talk about, we live in a society, and so it does matter. The things in the four walls of your own home are not the only things. And so as a parent, if you make these choices, if a child, as a child you make these choices, you know that those actions are going to permeate out and to impact other people in a really positive way. As the summer winds down, I'm feeling that bittersweet shift, saying goodbye to lazy days and getting back into the rhythm of a routine. And you know what? That change inspires me to refresh our space so it reflects our style and makes daily life feel just a little bit smoother. If you're in the same boat, Wayfair is the perfect place to kick off your back to school and fall season prep. Wayfair has everything we need to get our home organized and ready for the season ahead, inside and outside. Two of our girls needed new beds, so that's where we started. And I can't believe how much they've made bedtime easier. From cozy bedding and linens to storage solutions for every room to playground sets, they have us covered. Plus, their huge selection of outdoor items makes it easy to find just what we need to transition smoothly into fall. Whether you're refreshing your workspace with a new desk or making weeknight dinners a breeze with quality cookware, Wayfair has it all. And with free fast and hassle free delivery, even on big stuff like sofas and dining tables, there's no better time to shop, get organized, refreshed and back into routine. For way less, head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com Wayfair Every style, every Home as summer winds down, I've been thinking ahead, refreshing my wardrobe with staple pieces I'll actually wear on repeat. And Quince has totally nailed it. Their luxe essentials feel effortless, look polished and are perfect for layering and as the weather shifts. I've loved their European linen fit and flare midi dress this summer. So comfortable and stylish. And I can't wait to get my hands on their cotton and cashmere sweaters. They look so soft and cozy starting at just $40. I've also been eyeing their washable silk tops and classic denim timeless styles that mix and match easily and make me feel put together whether I'm hosting a podcast or out for a walk with the kids. What really sold me on quints is the value. These pieces rival high end brands, but quints cost half as much because they cut out the middlemen and the work directly with top artisans. The quality is incredible and everything is made in safe, ethical and responsible factories using premium fabrics. Honestly, I'm already eyeing a few things for the fall, especially their travel bags and a silk blouse that's been sitting in my cart. Elevate your wardrobe essentials with Quint. Go to quint.com outside for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U I N C.com outside to to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com outside does it ever feel like.
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- [17:54]
Jenny Urch
Can you talk about the practicality? This is something I'm curious about. So the pressure for phones. It starts, I would say, in kindergarten. I taught piano lessons for a while and I had a little girl that came in in kindergarten. She was five years old. And this is even probably about it, you know, five or six years ago. So it's not even super current. She, she's five. She came in after Christmas and she had gotten a Fitbit for Christmas. And she said, I'm telling all my friends at school that this is a phone. There's the pressure. So starting in kindergarten and you both grew up in no phones, there's no social media. Can you remember at what point, because that's really hard, where you're not doing video games. It's different than what everybody else is. Can you distinctly remember a time? Was it adulthood? Was it your later teen years? Was it when you fully realized that this was worth it?
- [18:44]
Andrew Hempy
So I think going back, thinking back on my middle school years, there was definitely a turning point going into high school for me. And I know Evan would say a lot of the same, but definitely remember 5th, 6th, 7th grade, people were dropping like flies. Come birthday season, come Christmas time, there'd be another batch of people that would get the smartphone and, and we'd be like, oh, it looks like we're. The pool that we're in is rapidly shrinking. And before we knew it, we were the only two in our school that didn't have smartphones. And that probably took until sometime in high school, till freshman or sophomore year. But that was also the same time when we started to realize that, hey, yeah, in middle school, I was really embarrassed that I was different. I was really embarrassed that my mom forced me to take violin lessons. I was really embarrassed that I didn't have a phone like anyone else. Then I Got to high school and I realized, wait, people actually want to be different now? Instead of middle school, where everyone wants to be exactly the same, people at least express a desire to be different now in high school, and I'm already different. I don't need to do anything else. I don't need to add anything to what I'm already doing to be different. And that's where that switch kind of occurred for me, where I was like, you know what? I don't think I even want that smartphone anymore. I don't want any social media, because this whole thing I've got going for me is working and I'm enjoying my life and I have friends and. And I don't need that. And that would just end up really killing all of the uniqueness that I feel like I have going for me.
- [20:09]
Evan Hempy
Yeah, it was definitely eighth grade. I think for me, like, around 14, 15. I don't really know what happened. I think. I mean, I don't. I wouldn't call it growing up because I still wasn't mature at all. But I think just I started to realize, like, hey, this is pretty cool. I think the. In the year before, seventh grade was the most brutal year. That was the year where it was, you know, 13. Everyone started to really get phones and kind of start to make fun of us for it. And Andrew and I were like, oh, Mom, I hate you. Whatever, you don't love me. You know, all that stuff, which is so not true. Which is funny to look back on that. You know, we said that and. And mom and dad would. Our mom and dad would just kind of sit there and just, you know, they would just laugh and they'd be like, look, we're sticking with our decision, like, regardless of what you think. I think a lot of times as parents, they. They think they need their kids, like, approval. No, you don't. You're. Your kids have no idea what's best for them. But you, as a parent, you have so much more life experience. You know absolutely what's best for them. And you were raised without all this stuff, so, you know, your kids can be raised without all this stuff. There's not like, it's not a new, you know, it's not a new revolution that we're starting here. It's just that we're just sticking to what we used to do. But I think back to when we started to kind of feel the flip was people started. People would make fun of us for. In middle school for not having a phone. But looking back, that was pretty much the only thing we were made fun of for, last time I checked, that's not really a character flaw. It's not really anything we could control. It wasn't the way we smelled or wasn't the way we looked or it wasn't the way we spoke, which, you know, middle school, you're going to get made fun of anything, any. Every time I do this, you know, I always get, I always get asked, you know, what will they, will your kids get made fun of or will they feel uncool not having a smartphone? And it's like giving them a smartphone is not the cure to being made fun of. Everyone's getting made fun of. I was mean, I made fun of people, they made fun of me. All that stuff for just random stuff, you're just, you're going through it in middle school. You don't really know. You're trying, you're trying to find your place and you think that finding your place by being mean to others is how you do it. And honestly, giving yourself a phone and social media takes that being mean. Middle school thing, like with you home, and then you stay up late scrolling and seeing other mean things people are saying about you. Andrew and I didn't see that. We didn't have to worry about what we were left out of. We didn't have to worry about what mean thing, what things, people, what people thought about us in group texts or in, on social media. We didn't care. And ignorance was bliss. It was great, right? And so again, eighth grade, we start, People started to turn like, hey, you can look me in the eye, have a conversation. You're really nice and you know, you play the violin, you play the piano, you're in, you're doing three sports, all that stuff. When you just involve yourself, man, people start to respect that. We weren't like, again, we weren't like the best at everything or we weren't the best conversationalists or the best basketball players or anything like that. We just did it all. We just did it with a smile and an attitude that was good and people were really affected by that in a good way.
- [22:50]
Andrew Hempy
So, yeah, and I think just to add one more note, what you're, you were saying about, you know, being different and all is, is just gen. It creates this whole, this Persona about you that you're not just constantly concerned with what everyone else think. You just, you know that you're confident in the things you know how to do and you don't need to be just like everyone else to be confident in yourself.
- [23:13]
Jenny Urch
Yeah, but, yeah, so talk to us about the effort of the parent then, because your mom has got these really cool ideas. Actually, one of the ideas that stuck with me the most that I've been mulling around for this coming school year, and I haven't pulled the trigger yet. But she talks about like, you know, if you had a Friday night, I guess, even if you just did it once a month, where it's like, okay, Friday nights at my house and, you know, gonna throw your phone in the basket or whatever. But there's going to be something there that you're going to learn. Like, it's going to be cake decorating night. We're going to bring somebody in that, that does that. And so it's like, you know, we're going to do something, we're going to have card game night or, or whatever the situation is. But it definitely is a situation where there is more effort needed on the parent. So it's twofold. One is you're going to have to stand your ground. So if kids are feeling pressure sometimes all the way down to kindergarten, and it's going to take till about age 15 where you kind of start to see, oh, I get it, this is 10 years of standing your ground. So it's going to take that. And then the both of you have a lot of hobbies. And your mom talks about having a certain amount. Like, we've talked about it. She's like, I think she said something like, you should have at least three. Then I'm going through, we've got five kids. So I'm going through all our kids. And I'm like, does every. Who has three? Does everybody have three? Could you have four? You know?
- [24:28]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
- [24:28]
Jenny Urch
So talk to us about how your parents helped. It's like you have to fill the time with other things then, and especially if there's not as many kids to play with, because a lot of kids are in their room on their ph. So the both of you have some phenomenal hobbies. Tell us what you do.
- [24:45]
Andrew Hempy
So both of us. Mom started off, it was just easy for her to have us all have us both do exactly the same things. We've branched off a little bit since going to college, but throughout all of lower middle and high school, we both played the violin and the piano. We were in a youth orchestra in our community. We ran cross country in the fall, played basketball in the winter, and played baseball in the spring and summer. And then on the side, we would go to art classes. There's this little studio in our town where we would go throw clay pots on the wheel and we'd go paint and make clay sculpture and all that sort of stuff. And so I'm trying to think those are kind of the big ticket items that we would do a lot of. But just like you said, it requires filling that time with. You can't just leave a void there where no screen. Now you don't do anything at all. You have to fill it. And to be honest, it is harder work for the parent to find the things, because to be honest, your child isn't going to go out of their way to find a new hobby. I mean, maybe sometimes that will occur, but a lot of times as a parent, you have to say, nope, you're going to take violin lessons, no matter how much you kick and scream about it. That's what mom had to do. She had to drag us into violin lessons, sometimes crying and causing a scene, you know, because like Evan said earlier, she knew it was best for us. And, you know, she knew that we weren't the adults. We weren't the ones in charge of the household, and so we weren't the ones that got to make the decisions, which I'm definitely a beneficiary of now, is that I'm so glad my mom made those decisions for me. But, yes, it is harder work for the parent to go out of their way to cart the kids around all the lessons and all the practices and all these things. But it just gets back to, I think one of these fundamental principles when it comes to the screen issue is that in a lot of ways, the choosing to give your kids that screen is kind of a cop out for a lot of parents. And it's kind of the easier. It's the easy wrong in a lot of ways. And I think of this plaque that is on West Point's campus, the U.S. military Academy, where it says their cadets will choose the harder right over the easier wrong. And they will do their best to make that the case across the board. And that's where I think on the screen issue, the parents have an instinct. They know that giving their kid that screen is the easy wrong, but everyone else is doing it, and they've got the spare screen lying around anyway, so you might as well. But the harder right is finding those hobbies for your kids. You know, making the sacrifices to get them there to do it, even when they don't appreciate it, that does truly. That not only gives them a real, genuine childhood full of actually enriching experiences, but it also becomes things that they'll Love for their life. Like, I, I've started, I've recently begun actually enjoying the violin, which I've been playing for almost my whole life. But now I actually really enjoy it and I love playing and I have no reason to keep playing other than just the fact that I enjoy it. But now, of my own volition, I choose to do so. And that's all because my mom forced me to go to lessons when I was younger when I didn't want to. So it's all you have to, as a parent, think long term and not just think about the immediate how to make my kid like me. They say they're going to hate me if I make them go to lessons or if I don't give them a phone. But as a parent, you have to know, you have to think long term and know what's best for your child and stick with your gut.
- [28:05]
Evan Hempy
Yeah. The way I think about it is your kid will never, like, come back in 20 years and be like, mom, I hate you because you made me take piano when I was a kid. When does that happen? That has, that has never. If it has happened, please text, email me, please show me that evidence, because I have never seen it. But what does happen is, mom, why'd you let me quit? We hear you. You hear that all the time. Like when people find out we played violin or piano. Oh, yeah. And then they'll like interject themselves into it. They'll be like, oh, I used to play, but then I quit when I was six weeks old. You know, obviously not. But like, you know, they, they quit at such a young age because it got hard. And their parents like, oh, okay, well, then they're just not, they're just not cut out for that, you know, Then they're just not. I mean, I'm not musical, so how can my kid be musical? Our parents, I love them to death, but they, they're not musical. Right. And it's, it was all trained like that. We just, they put us in lessons and we ended up being, you know, we, we weren't the best for like, but we were, we, we, we enjoyed it. We got to a level we can join. We have really good relationships with our teachers. We have good friends from all that. And so I think at the very least, you know, music or hobbies that you give your, that you put your kids into or make your kids do when they're younger, they're not going to come back in 20 years and regret it. They're going to regret what they missed out on. I prompt Like, I promise you, I know I'm only 21 years old. I don't have a lot of wisdom. I haven't really lived a lot of life yet. But I have seen this right? Where that, that you never have an issue of kids saying or even like to the phone thing. Do you really think a kid is going to come back in 10 years and be like, mom, you didn't get me a phone and I'm scarred forever for it? Absolutely not. I think giving kids something that makes them different when they're a kid and it like they're going to, they're going to come back and they're going to thank you for it. And so I think being okay with the, with the struggle now, you know, because you're looking forward to, to what it's going to lead to in the future. And I think parents nowadays is they think that if their kids struggles or if there's friction there, then I'm a bad parent. I'm being mean. No, like, when, when is the kid ever going to know what's better than the parent? Right? If it was up to the kid, they would eat ice cream and candy and sugar all day. And they don't like eating vegetables. It's the same thing, right? Where it's. But nobody has any problem with their, with giving their kids spinach or giving their kid vegetables or anything like that, because they know that eating all the sugar is wrong. Screen things the same thing. They know that giving the kid the iPad to scroll YouTube all day is wrong. But for whatever reason, they treat it like a whole different issue where they don't want to give them the vegetables, they just want to keep feeding them the sugar, which I don't get, where the disconnect happens. Easy, but it's easy. And so again, just back to it. Just be confident in your ability as a parent to be like, yeah, they're not going to hate me for this in 10 years because it's giving them another door to make friends, another door to, to honestly, to fix boredom. If you want to fix boredom, learn the piano. You will never learn every song on the piano. It's endless, right? You think that scrolling is endless, but yeah, it's endless, but it's useless. Piano is like scrolling, but it's good for you. You know what I'm saying? There's always something to learn. That when you learn something, when you practice something, when you get that down, it's so good for your brain. From the transfer from your brain to your fingers and everything, it's Just, it's one of the best things I'm a. I ended up, he ended up shifting more towards the violin, I, towards the piano. And it's just, it's been the greatest thing ever. If I'm ever bored, I just play the piano. So.
- [31:27]
Jenny Urch
Yeah, well, you brought up such a good point too, Evan, about the teacher relationship. So that's an extra thing that comes along with that, is that you have a relationship with this other adult that you wouldn't have had otherwise. But the whole point here is that this is a time commitment, it's a financial commitment, it's a stand your ground commitment. And it is a very long commitment. It's a long commitment. You're talking a decade, two decades, you know, 15 years. You're talking a really long time where you have to do those things and during a time period where the kid might disagree and cause a lot of ruckus and you are going to stand your ground. And I, you know, I, I talked to this farmer. I have a famous or I have a favorite farmer just because I'm old. And when you're old, then you have a favorite farmer, but his name's Joel Salatin. And he says you're only ever disappointed about the skills you don't have.
- [32:15]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah.
- [32:16]
Jenny Urch
You're never disappointed with the skills you do have. You're never. No one is disappointed that they can play the piano or the violin or that they did sports or that they can cook. No one is disappointed. You're only disappointed about what you don't have. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning app, it's nice knowing you have help finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
- [32:55]
Evan Hempy
It's the Smuckers Uncrustables podcast with your host, Uncrustables. Okay. Today's guest is rough around the edges.
- [33:04]
Andrew Hempy
Please welcome crust.
- [33:06]
Evan Hempy
Thanks for having me. Today's topic.
- [33:08]
Andrew Hempy
He's round with soft pillowy bread.
- [33:10]
Evan Hempy
Hey. Filled with delicious PB and J. Are you talking about yourself?
- [33:14]
Andrew Hempy
And you can take him anywhere.
- [33:16]
Evan Hempy
Why'd you invite and we are out of time. Are you really cutting me off? Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich.
- [33:24]
Andrew Hempy
Sorry, crust.
- [33:27]
Jenny Urch
This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, prime helps you get More out of your passions. So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time, with services like Prime Video, Amazon Music and fast free delivery, prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into. Visit Amazon.comprime to learn more. Can you talk about then taking ownership? Because obviously there's this big misconception that if you do childhood like this and the kid is mad because they don't get the phone, which I would agree with you, probably changes around 10th grade, right? Like 10th grade is A, is a critical changing year. I taught high school for a while and I feel like ninth grade is still kind of like middle school. But 10th grade, you're really starting to look toward adulthood and I something changes in the brain or something. It's like a little bit more logical where you, you can start to really see the benefits of this. But people would say, look, they're mad. You know, when they're 13, they're mad they're getting made fun of. So as soon as they have the opportunity to have the phone, to have the video games, they're going to get addicted because they had nothing. And now they're on their own at college. But that doesn't happen because you've been wired for enjoying real life. Can you talk about when you started to take ownership of it? You know, you become an adult, you're 18, you're 19, you can do whatever you want. Do you feel a huge draw to sit in your room all day at college and play video games?
- [34:56]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah. So this is addressing a question we hear a lot, which is the myth of the binge gamer or whatever after, you know, being raised without screens. And one distinction that I want to make before I jump into that is just. Yeah. While Evan and I might have started to acknowledge and recognize more that not having those things around, you know, early high school, 9th, 10th grade, that was when we started to appreciate it. We still didn't get a smartphone until after we were all the way through high school. And I. That's really what we advocate for at Screenstrong is that any point in childhood is not a good point for a smartphone. Yeah. Maybe when you turn 18, when you're leaving high school, you're kind of an adult. Maybe it becomes necessary even then the argument could be made that it's not. But really any point in high school is not a good time for a smartphone. That's what, that's what we advocate for here at Screenstrong. But as far as the rest of high school and appreciating the fact that, I mean, do you want to jump in and address the question as well?
- [35:56]
Evan Hempy
You go first, I'll follow up.
- [35:59]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah, so the question of, you know, the binge gamer, where we, you think that you're going to not have any screens and you're going to go off in college and immediately just go off the rails. Well, one thing I like to point out is that it's, it's the classic example of no one's ever tried it, so it must be true. You know, no one's ever tried. Like that has never happened before. No one has ever. People use the binge myth as a reason to not be different, to give their kids a screen. So people give their kids a screen because they don't want them to binge later on, but then there's never even an occasion for that theory to be, to be proven true. You see what I'm saying? It's a self fulfilling prophecy in a lot of ways because people, they say, oh, I don't want my kid to binge so I'm going to give them a screen now. And then they never even have the chance for the reason giving them the screen to be proven correct anyway. I didn't explain that properly, but you get what I'm saying. And so a lot of times that results in people just being given the screen because the parents think that's better for the future. But one simple truth that we believe is, you know, proves to be true across the board is that little gamers grow up to be big gamers and little musicians grow up to be big musicians. Little artists grow up to be big artists. This is what we have seen from our experiences. Our friends who gamed in lower and middle and high school, they're still gaming in college. And now that there's no more guide rails from the parents, they're gaming even more us. Where we grew up and we spent our time playing music, we spent our time playing sports and all these things doing what, what have you, all these hobbies to fill our time. That's what we spend our time on now by choice. Because yeah, I might have the choice if I wanted. I could, I could go play Fortnite or something. But even if I did, I would feel like a sack of potatoes. I would feel like, man, I know how much more I can be getting out of life. This is a waste of my time. Why would I spend my time doing this? So that's just the myth issue. It's really silly. On many Levels. It's using a fear of a potential outcome to make a choice that is just wrong. It's completely, it's never been proven true and people just use it across the board as this end all, be all. Oh, that's good justification for ruining my kid's childhood because it could be ruined later down the road. It's silly.
- [38:19]
Jenny Urch
So yeah, something that is wild to me is that adults game. Yeah, that was not a thing. So I had dated this guy in, at the end of high school into college and I was like, well when are you going to be done with these video games? And I remember him saying no, like there's men in their 20s that play video games. And I was like, what? I've never heard of that.
- [38:40]
Evan Hempy
Right.
- [38:41]
Jenny Urch
It's become a thing where it's just sucking up time. In these, these are prime years of life, there's a thing called fluid intelligence and then crystallized intelligence. And it like your fluid intelligence is up until 30 and then it, you lose it in terms of the music and the quick learning and all of that. And so these are prime years to be capitalizing on that time because it is going to change. And so what a gift you give to your kids that they don't feel like they have to play video games when they become adults.
- [39:09]
Andrew Hempy
Right?
- [39:10]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
- [39:10]
Jenny Urch
What will you do with your kids?
- [39:12]
Andrew Hempy
Well, I think, I mean it's pretty simple. I'm gonna, I'm ship my kids off to mom's house and that's where they're gonna get raised.
- [39:19]
Evan Hempy
So. Yeah.
- [39:20]
Andrew Hempy
Well, I think it's just from my experience, like I said, it was hard. I was complaining to my parents all the time about being different. But when was the easier choice? Always the right one. That's never been the case. So I, I think without a doubt I'm going to make my kids do music. I'm going to make them play sports. I'm actually going to make my kids practice more than I did because they could be, they'll be a lot better than me, but I'm going to like there's so many things that you can, you can fill your child's time with and things that they will enjoy. Maybe some things they won't, but a lot of things they will because they're exciting and they're fun. It's gratifying to have those skills. But without a doubt I'm going to raise my kids maybe even in a more extremely screen free way than my mom did. Just because I've seen that there's so much more life and child to be had off the screen.
- [40:10]
Evan Hempy
Well, yeah, here's the thing. Why did we 20 years ago decide to just switch up the brand on how we parent? You know what I'm saying? People have been parenting for thousands. Like, parenting is not a new art, right? People have been doing it for years. It just looks a little bit different. But for whatever reason, we decided to treat the screen issue a little bit different. Kind of back to the benching thing where it was, do you give your kids marijuana and cocaine in middle school and high school so that they don't. So. Oh, but when they get to college and somebody puts it in front of their face, they've already, you know, they won't binge because they're used to it. Like, why, who, what parent would be like, yeah, that's a good idea. So really the screens is the same thing. Like why, why do we need what, why do we give them earlier in this fear of binging. But anyways, why did we reinvent the way that we think about screens and like, why do we not treat it differently than marijuana? Because you know, deep down as a parent, like, you don't want your kids to just be, oh, he's just a gamer. You know, I'm saying I. Every, every parent, I think wants to be proud of their kid. And I don't think there's many parents. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm just old fashioned. But I know I don't want my kid. I don't want to talk to my, to other parents about, oh, oh yeah, my kid, he's doing great. He's, he's 17 and he goes to school and he just sits it and then he comes home and he sits around all day like, I'm so like, yeah, heck yeah, dude. Like, come on, that's my parent. You know what I'm saying? You want something, you want your kids. Not that your kids are just like trophies that you hold, but you want to. You. It's, it's a lot of effort to parent and parenting is not easy. Not that I know anything about this, but I'm just, you know, from the parenting books I've read. I'm just kidding. I haven't read parenting books. But parenting is not easy and you want something to honestly to show for it. You want to be like, hey, I spent a lot of effort into trying to make you like the most whole like person like that I can. And I want you to turn around and you know, and flourish in that. Who doesn't want their kid to be A musician or an artist or something like that, where something who doesn't want their kid to have something cool about them that they can talk about, they can show to other people. So I think just being able to stick with that and being able to be confident in your parenting abilities, I think is the biggest thing at the end of the day. And why do you need, you don't need to look at all the other rat poison. What everyone else is doing. Everyone's so worried about what everyone else is doing. When you're the parent, you literally mold and shape them into who, like children are very malleable like that. The mind of a child is extremely malleable. And so when you, when you introduce them to, into things that you're interested in and things that you know that you know is good for them, then they're going to flourish in that and they're going to want to, you know, they're going to get hungry for more. And so I think you're, you have the ability to parent your kid the way you want to parent it. No one's telling you how to parent your kids. And even us, like, we're not like, even what we do with our mom with Screenstorm, we're not telling you how to parent your kids. We just have found that this is a very successful way and we would, it would, you know, it'd be bad if we just sat on our hands and didn't tell anybody. Right. And it's not that Andrew and I are the greatest people ever. We just have had this good experience to where we can look back on and say, yeah, that really worked, you guys. You know, it would behoove you to, to do this. And so, yeah, I think just that that's just kind of the rml.
- [43:31]
Jenny Urch
But yeah, yeah, that's how I feel. I'm like, look, we just prioritize getting outside.
- [43:35]
Evan Hempy
Absolutely. Right, yeah.
- [43:36]
Jenny Urch
And it would behoove you to try it because it changes a lot of things and it cuts down on all these modern parenting problems and problems that kids have because you're replacing screen time with something else. And to your point, it's a. You are the gatekeeper as the parent. You're the gatekeeper for the calendar, for the screens that come in and the screens that go out. You are the one that is in charge. You're the one that's paying for it.
- [44:00]
Andrew Hempy
Right.
- [44:00]
Jenny Urch
And so you have a lot of authority there and you have to think long term about your kids. I love what you said, Evan, when you said rinse and repeat what are you going to do? You said rinse and repeat and repeat.
- [44:10]
Evan Hempy
The exact same thing. Yeah, yeah.
- [44:11]
Jenny Urch
Let's grab the things that worked and stick. Stick with them instead of wildly swinging to something that. I mean, the whole thing with the screens. And I feel similar with AI, especially the chat bots, like the AI companion, the AI girlfriend thing. It's like, this is brand new. This has never existed before. Why would we dive in as adults to something that has never existed before and just be like, here you go, children.
- [44:33]
Andrew Hempy
Right?
- [44:33]
Jenny Urch
We'll. We'll wait and see. You only get one childhood, so these are powerful things, and I think it is incredibly important that you're sharing it. But talk about becoming a mouthpiece for this movement, for Screenstrong. Were you nervous? When did that sort of transition take place? I love. One of the things that I think is so cool as a parent, you talk about investment. Like, what am I going to invest in a kid that's, you know, 24 and sitting in the basement playing video games? Like, that's a poor investment. But also, your mom is so confident. So when we had a conversation, it's probably been almost a year where she was like, oh, my boys would be so great on your podcast, you know, and, like, she just has so much confidence and so much trust in you. And truly, you're the best messengers for a message like this, because you say, look, we did it, and it was fine. We turned out fine. We're really happy that we did it this different way. So what was that transition like, where it was like, oh, well, we could speak about it.
- [45:26]
Andrew Hempy
Well, I don't think it was. It really wasn't much of a transition for us because, I mean, we were used to. We were. We've been. I've been my mom's son my whole life. I mean, I. I've been used to being almost or being different in a lot of ways because I was my mom's son. Because mom chose to do things differently with Evan and I, and so we've. We've been attending her workshops and attending these things for our whole life. And, you know, in. In high school or middle school, whenever it was, she started to ask us to speak or say a few words here and there. And it was kind of weird to me and Evan because you're like, why would anyone care what we have to say? But mom was like, no, parents actually do really value what you have to say. But yeah, and it wasn't really much of a transition for us because we've just kind of been Doing it for a long time. And it does go back to once that switch got flipped, where we saw, hey, I actually really appreciate the things my parents did to raise me the way they did. Now that I have that level of appreciation, sure. It's a no brainer. Of course I want to. Of course I'm willing to share and go on a podcast or speak at a conference that mom's at. I mean, Evan spoke in front of. What was it like? How many people were in Texas that one time?
- [46:37]
Evan Hempy
I was a couple thousand. Yeah.
- [46:38]
Andrew Hempy
Couple thousand people in Texas. My largest crowd has only been a couple hundred. I guess Evan drives up the ticket sales significantly. But, but still like those things. Sure, maybe there's some nerves that come with public speaking, but as far as the message, I mean, I'm just talking about my life.
- [46:54]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
- [46:54]
Andrew Hempy
Like that's, that's not really that hard for me for anybody to do, but I'm just sharing about my personal experience. And so as far as becoming a mouthpiece for screenshot and stuff, it's just been kind of a natural progression to say, hey, now that I appreciate what the impact this has had on my life and I know that's how I want to raise my kids, I can do my best to encourage other people to do the same. So, yeah, it wasn't really too much of a drastic shift where mom was like, sat us down and say, hey, we're going to hire you as an independent contractor. Like, that was never the, There was never any sort of major shift, I don't think. Yeah, yeah.
- [47:27]
Evan Hempy
Mama has a lot of trust in us because she lets us do these things. She. We're pretty unhinged. I don't know, I just kind of wing it, like, because it, and it's easy again because we just get up, talk about our lives, try to do it in somewhat of a funny and entertaining way and you know, and just show that, hey, it's okay if, if you, if you do this, your kids can, can be like us, right? Where you can, you can stand up, you can end up talking about your life and talking about. And it's fun. Like, this is such a relevant issue and this is something that we lived and so we're very passionate about this. We're like, you need to, you need to do this for your child. Right, Right. Like, get off the stupid screen, get off the iPad and everything. Because we've seen how poorly it can affect kids. So it's not like we're having to be coerced to do this. Like, this is Honestly, it's kind of fun. Like, I don't know, just, I just get to talk about my life and, and tell parents what they need to do. And I've never been a parent, you know, I don't even know what a woman is. And so. But like, you know, I'm joking. But it's fun, right? It's kind of a good time.
- [48:23]
Andrew Hempy
Well, also, I think I know, me personally at least, I engage in frequent debates with friends of my own.
- [48:29]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
- [48:30]
Andrew Hempy
About. And a lot of my friends, of course, they've been my friends for a while, so they know the whole situation, the way I was raised and everything. But I'll challenge my friends, hey, maybe you should delete Instagram, delete Snapchat, whatever. Get off social media. Just try it for a week, try it for a month. You know, constantly challenging my friends, hey, maybe you should sell that console and take the $500 and run. You know, like, I challenge my friends to think about screens differently in, in their lives and the way I have because I know it's been so beneficial for me. So, yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm engaging in debates with my best friends, so it's a no brainer for me to go on a podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [49:05]
Jenny Urch
Okay. So you're right on the cusp of 21. Like this is like close to graduation. Talk us through. This is something that I sometimes have concern about. Childhood is in some way insulated from, from this sort of wide expanse of time because you have homework, you, you can have sports, college, same thing. Right? There's like rec sports and clubs and all sorts of things and you become an adult and there's really not that safety net of stuff. So you know, that you just go to work. It actually is kind of odd. You know, you have this whole life that could be really filled with activities and different things and then you become an adult and you're like, well, I've got work from nine to five. Yeah. Do you have thoughts on that transition?
- [49:49]
Andrew Hempy
Well, I think one thing for me that I've definitely thought about is, well, I mean, I've got my violin. I, I already own that. I, I can download free PDFs of any music written before 1980 for free off the Internet. Like, I can, I can continue to enjoy the violin for the rest of my life. Like I, I've even imagined envisioned myself getting off of my job, coming back to my house, apartment, whatever. You know, still, hypothetically, as a single guy, I'm like, you know, I'm going to enjoy some Mozart tonight. That's what I'm going to do. You know, like things like that, where these hobbies and these passions, these aren't things that immediately dissipate once you graduate high school, graduate college. These are things that are life skills. They're, they're lifelong things that you can enjoy. I mean, and even picking up new ones. Like, Evan has recently really been getting into golf. I, I, a little bit as well. But him especially, like, that's something he can enjoy for the rest of his life. And like, no, we're not members of the country club, but like, sure, a net for the backyard is what, 75, a hundred dollars? Like, and then you just go out there, you take some swings. I think it's almost like the way we were raised, we were just, it was already naturally ingrained in us to find things to fill those time, to fill that time. And I don't really think that's anything that's going to change once I have a job. I mean, if anything, I'll have a job, which means I'll have money, which means I have more resources to invest in those hobbies. So, you know, and there's always something new you can, there's always a new, whether it's pickleball, whether it's tennis, you know, there's always something new. You can pick up dance lessons, like going to learn how to swing dance or things like that. There's so many different things. I mean, the world is full of stuff. There's so many ways you can go, enjoy, fill your time. And I think having a job, sure it takes a lot of that time out of your day, but especially when you, if you don't have a family, if you're just a single 20 something, there's, there are so many fun things that you can continue to learn. You can build upon things you did in your childhood or pick up something completely new. And that's almost just like a mindset, like a lifestyle that was ingrained in us just from the way we were raised.
- [51:48]
Evan Hempy
But yeah, here's the other thing is what those hobbies do is they create avenues for relationships. Yeah, so you do is you get your job, you know, you get your 9 to 5, then you still have like Saturday and Sunday to kind of do what you want. So if you're, if you're in Andrew's case, you know, he finds a, you go find a group of people in your community that play Mozart, right? You go do that, boom. There's relationships, especially if you're, if you're just you know, fresh out of college, you just moved to a new city. You don't really have a lot going for you, but you have your talent, or you have your talents and your hobbies that you carried with you from your childhood. All that does is that just creates better common ground for you to go play, plug yourself into certain aspects. Like, you know, if you golf, you, I don't know, go make friends at the. At the local golf club. If you, if you like to bowl, go to the bowling alley. Right? You'll just meet people that just have common interests. And so, but if you're. If. If you don't have any of that built from childhood, then you're kind of really having to start from scratch. And if you don't like the people you work with, you're kind of stuck. So, but. So these hobbies allow you to open. To open just up avenues of relationships and just. And. And build. And just build kind of your own little community that. That in.
- [52:54]
Andrew Hempy
In.
- [52:54]
Evan Hempy
In wherever. Whatever city you're in or. Because that can be intimidating. That's a big life change. You know, you've been used to school your whole life now you have responsibilities. You have probably more money than you've ever made in your life. You know, you're most likely by yourself or with a roommate or so in a new town doing something, everything's just new. And so I think having those hobbies that, you know you love to do that is. Is known, right? You don't have to learn something new. You have things that you can carry with you that can kind of feel more familiar, and then that can kind of settle you down, make that transition a lot easier. So.
- [53:24]
Andrew Hempy
Right. And just to piggyback off what Evan was saying, those. Those activities, those are avenues for relationship. I mean, when. When we talk about all the things we did in our childhood, it wasn't just the activity. It wasn't just that in isolation. It was all the people we met through that that really made the experience. I mean, when we come home from college, we have friends from school, baseball, we have friends from. From outside of school baseball, we have friends from cross country, we have friends from music, we have our violin teacher. We still go out to go over to his house and hang out. You know, like, it's all of these relationships that come alongside these life. These other things that we do, these hobbies that they just give you. It's so enriching in so many ways. And then you just continue that trend after high school and college. That's just a natural. It's hey, I know this works for building relationships. I'll just keep doing it, you know.
- [54:10]
Jenny Urch
Yeah. It's a foundation that a parent helps a child set for an entire lifetime. The benefits are lifelong. And when you talked earlier, Evan, you talked about the endless piano music. Like there's always something scrolling and there's always another piece that you can play that this is the same for hobbies. There's always something else that you can try or different groups that you can join. So this is so powerful. Can you tell us real quick about the curriculum?
- [54:31]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah, so we've recently. So I'll kind of go in chronological order. So the mo. The first resource we put out was the Kids Brains and Screens student course. I'll try and make sure it's in the frame. But this is an incredibly powerful, powerful tool. It's a curriculum for schools. So I mean this bad boy is like almost 300 pages long. I mean and it is just chock full. It's targeted for middle school age but it's just chock full of neuroscience and data and research. But it's packaged in a way that a middle schooler could comprehend and understand. And the whole point behind it is to give parents to equip parents to say, hey, I'm not only going to have this rule in our household about screens, I have some reasoning behind it as well. And there's rationale and there's science and all that. So that's, that's kind of the inspiration behind a lot of our curriculum, but especially the student course. So this is a lot of times intended for schools in particular. Then we, then we also put out the Home Edition. This is the Kids Brains and Screens home edition. And it's a lot of the same material condensed a little bit but put and put in a format that's more conducive to a home environment for maybe a parent with their kids. And then the big reveal as of like days ago, we've recently released this is actually still a proof copy. That's how fresh it is. But this is the Adventures of Superbrain which is an elementary age like picture book type.
- [55:52]
Jenny Urch
Love it.
- [55:53]
Andrew Hempy
Resource for lower school aged kids to explain not only why screens affect them the way they do, but also how to live a life that is more enriching off those screens. So those are those resources, you can find them all on screenstrong.org or Kids Brains and Screens. We have just look us up. You can, you have no trouble finding those resources. So yeah, and we try to, we try to get the whole Swath of age ranges. Yeah.
- [56:18]
Jenny Urch
Yep. And your mom is going to come on to talk even more in depth about those resources and how they could help a family or help a school. So I'll make sure I'll put the links in the show notes. This is really a gift I want to tell you. And also it's a reminder that as for the parent, when the parent steps out, so your mom, when she stepped out, you start to open up doors for your kids too. So this is a really cool showcasing of that. The fact that you're up speaking in front of hundreds of people and thousands of people and you're podcasting. It's not only that she gave you these opportunities to have this screen free childhood, but also stepping out in a business fashion. It also opens up doors for your kids as well. So it's just a cool reminder of that. I think as a parent, sometimes you can be scared or you can think, this is going to take away from my family if I go after this passion. But often it enlarges the opportunities for your kids. So yeah, this has just been, this is going to go out to, you know, 30,000, 40,000 people listen. You know, they listen with their kids and they listen. So more people than that even hear it. They listen with their kids, they listen with their spouse. So it's really powerful what you're doing and I so appreciate the time. We always end our show with the same question. The question is, what's a favorite memory from your childhood? That was outside, I gotta think.
- [57:31]
Andrew Hempy
So one, one great highlight. This is kind of a whole host of memories, but every year when we were growing up, our mom would throw an art camp for. And it was all for dudes. It would be like me and evan and like 18 of our buddies from school and we would just have it in our backyard. We'd make all these random crafts that are really ugly now, but it was so fun that we would have all of our, all of our friends over and we'd go swimming in the pool after. And it was just, it was just in the summer, you know, the parents loved it. It was almost free childcare for a day. And all of our friends would be together doing arts and crafts. Like that is in. That is a memory I'll carry with me forever. That was outside, it was screen free and it was diy. It was all done by, you know, our mom led it and she spearheaded the whole effort. So. And actually a little shout out. She has some resources online if you want to do one of those yourself or if parents out there want to are intrigued by that idea, she has some resources to help you set that up.
- [58:29]
Evan Hempy
But yeah, art camp was what was up. But I honestly. And I kind of lucked out by just having a twin brother, but me and this dude would just like invent games. We would play one on one, everything.
- [58:40]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah.
- [58:41]
Evan Hempy
Random variations of soccer, basketball, wiffle ball, baseball. Like, we played wiffle ball with like a hammer as a bat. I don't know, you just find things. You're just outside all day, you're drinking from the water hose, you're sweating, you know, you go get a popsicle from the freezer, you just go right back out, you know, just kind of just doing stuff like that, just being outside, just being inventive. That's. That was such. So good. Just for the brain, for the soul.
- [59:02]
Jenny Urch
So good. It's so good for your creativity. You're coming up with something out of nothing. And the art camp, Andrew, I think is such an interesting thing because that is weird. Like, I mean, that would be a weird thing, like to be like, hey, high school son, I'm going to throw an art camp for you and your friends. Yeah, you and your guy friends. But yes, yes. And then you're like, well, gosh, it's one of your favorite memories from growing up. So do the thing that seems weird. Just do it, you know, and, and you just don't know. And it's going to. I'm sure that the other kids that came are gonna always remember it too. Like, remember.
- [59:34]
Andrew Hempy
They still, they still talk about it. And I will say, I, I didn't say the age. I think we were, what we were.
- [59:40]
Evan Hempy
It was still like, like 9 to 10.
- [59:42]
Andrew Hempy
So we were younger. And it was definitely okay.
- [59:46]
Jenny Urch
But still, you can pull it off.
- [59:48]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
- [59:48]
Jenny Urch
You weren't like 17.
- [59:50]
Evan Hempy
Right.
- [59:52]
Andrew Hempy
But a bunch of our friends, a bunch of our friends still, they will go over to their houses and they have the, what. What have you, the little piece of art on the shelf. And they still say, oh, man. Like, I remember your, your mom's art camp and stuff. But yeah, no, that's super fun.
- [60:07]
Jenny Urch
Yeah. Amazing ideas. And your mom does have just fantastic ideas and ones that we think about often. I think about often not wanting my kids to be a carbon copy of other kids. I think about often prioritizing having several hobbies, and I think about often these sort of specific activities that she would spearhead, like an art day or Friday night bonfire or, or something like that. And so what your family is putting out into the world is really impactful, and I really appreciate you being here.
- [60:34]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah. Thank you so much for having us.
- [60:36]
Evan Hempy
Yeah.
- [60:36]
Andrew Hempy
Yeah. I mean, yeah, seriously. We love talking about what we do here at Screenshot. It's like we said, it's just two twins talking about our life like that. What's easier. What's easier to do than that? So thank you so much for having us. It's been a great time.