Screen Guardians Podcast

About Screen Guardians Podcast

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

Publisher

Katie Longhauser

Category

education · kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Feb 2025

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   It's an Unfair Fight: Parents, Kids & Big Tech | Your Attention Please Documentary

   Your Attention Please is a new documentary about social media, AI, and the attention economy, now available on Apple TV and other digital platforms. In this episode, director Sara Robin, parent advocate Kristin Bride, and ReThink inventor Trisha Prabhu join Katie Longhauser to talk about social media addiction, cyberbullying, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), and what parents can do to protect kids online. What would the internet look like if it were designed for people instead of profit? Sara shares what pushed her to make the film. After a decade of criticizing social media from the outside, she found she couldn't put her own phone down and had lost her ability to read for fun. Getting her focus back led her to a bigger problem: almost everyone agrees we're on our phones too much, but few can picture an alternative. Trisha offers one. At 13, she invented ReThink, a tool that prompts kids to pause before posting something hurtful. It's the same idea behind Pause, Check, Choose: give the still-developing brain a moment to catch up. As she puts it, the adolescent brain is "like a car with no brakes." Her point for the industry is that if a 13-year-old could build this, platforms could have done far more, far sooner. Kristin explains why they haven't. She reported the cyberbullying of her son Carson to the app YOLO four times and never heard back. Outrage and drama keep kids online longer, and time online is what gets sold to advertisers. She also describes the fight for the Kids Online Safety Act and the lobbying money spent against it. In this episode: Why the pause matters so much for adolescent brains How the business model, more than a lack of ideas, blocks safer design Why Sara calls parental controls "lipstick on a pig," and why design is the real conversation Where the Kids Online Safety Act stands, and how states are stepping in on AI chatbot safety Kristin's advice for parents: wait as long as you can, keep phones out of bedrooms and off the dinner table, and keep talking What gives each guest hope: phone-free schools, a generation skeptical of AI, and the resilience of the human spirit Neither Kristin nor Trisha has ever met a parent or a young person who wished they'd gotten social media sooner. If you're a parent carrying guilt about this, hear what Kristin says: it's an unfair fight. No shame. No judgment. You don't have to navigate this alone. Watch the film, talk about it with your kids, and start where you are. This episode discusses suicide and cyberbullying. Please listen with care. Watch the film: https://www.yourattentionplz.com/ (https://www.yourattentionplz.com/) ReThink: free on the App Store, Google Play, and as a Chrome extension Learn more about The Screen Guardians: https://thescreenguardians.com/ (https://thescreenguardians.com/)

2. 

   22 Sept 2026

   "The Cost of Free: From Digital Safety to Platform Incentives" Featuring Family I.T. Guy

   The Cost of Free: From Digital Safety to Platform Incentives Most parents think the problem is screen time or willpower. But what if the real issue is something else entirely? In this episode, Katie talks with Ben Gillenwater (Family IT Guy, former NSA cybersecurity expert) about why understanding platform incentives changes everything about digital wellness, parental controls, and raising digitally healthy kids. They explore: why free platforms aren't free, how AI is entering schools without parent consent, what makes early-adopter technology dangerous for kids' developing brains, and the practices that actually protect children—from code words to notification strategies to family rituals. Learn why incentives matter more than willpower, how to evaluate any platform your kid uses, and how education—not restriction—builds lasting digital health. Ben shares how he introduced his 11-year-old to AI safely, and Katie reveals the one practice that turns shame into safety. For parents, educators, and anyone raising kids in the digital age. Grounded in research. Not anti-technology. Pro-child. Topics covered: digital wellness | parental controls | screen time | platform incentives | AI in schools | online safety | kids and technology | digital health | algorithms | screen habits | childhood safety | technology habits | internet safety | dopamine | parenting | education not restriction Guest: Ben Gillenwater, Family I.T. Guy Duration: ~2 hours

3. 

   11 Sept 2026

   Who’s Watching the Tech in Our Schools? | From Concerned Parents to Advocates

   Your child's school hands them an internet-connected device for seven hours a day. Do you know what's on it, who chose the software, or what it's collecting? Allie Terry and Liz Jenkins didn't either. They were two moms living across the street from each other in Utah, asking questions about their kids' school Chromebooks that were easy to dismiss one at a time. Those questions became an Instagram account, then a working relationship with state legislators, and then actual legislation that passed and takes effect next fall. In this episode, Katie talks with Allie and Liz about what they found when they started looking: a fifth grader who received explicit content through a shared Google Doc, content filters that flagged problems no one at the school was reviewing, hundreds of ed-tech contracts that were never meaningfully vetted, and student data being collected and shared in ways no parent ever agreed to. They also walk through exactly how two parents with no policy background got two bills written and moved. In this episode: What's really on school Chromebooks—and who vets it How explicit content reached a fifth grader Why content filters alone aren't enough The ed-tech contracts schools carry (and why they're not properly reviewed) Student data collection and privacy violations How to read your child's school device agreement From G-Rated Schools to state legislation: how two parents created change Four things any parent can do this week—in any state AI in schools and what's coming next Resources mentioned: G-Rated Schools: https://www.instagram.com/g_rated_school/ (https://www.instagram.com/g_rated_school/) Child First Policy Center: https://childfirstpolicy.org/ (https://childfirstpolicy.org/) The Digital Delusion by Jared Cooney Horvath Internet Safety Labs / BYU audit of Utah school apps From The Screen Guardians: Free parent course: https://thescreenguardians.com/kids-digital-health-guide/ (https://thescreenguardians.com/kids-digital-health-guide/) The Parent Portal: https://thescreenguardians.com/parent-portal/ (https://thescreenguardians.com/parent-portal/) K–12 school program: https://thescreenguardians.com/k-12/ (https://thescreenguardians.com/k-12/) Newsletter: https://thescreenguardians.com/subscribe/ (https://thescreenguardians.com/subscribe/) This conversation is a powerful reminder: you don't have to be a tech expert to pay attention, ask questions, and advocate for your child. At The Screen Guardians, we believe education is the greatest form of protection. Not anti-technology. Pro-child.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 29 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

38

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.