"We have raised a bunch of anxious squirrels, but God created them as bold lions — and we have to get the bold lions back."
Something has shifted in how children move through the world — and most parents know it, even if they can't quite name it. Kids who don't know how to play. Young adults who flinch at a phone call. Families in the same room, miles apart. Shannon Coulter has been tracking this for nearly two decades, and she has built an entire body of work around the belief that what screens are taking from our children — and from us — is not gone. It can come back.
Shannon is the creator of Planet FASSA, founder of Break the Chain coaching, and host of the Let There Be Joy podcast. Her work began in 2007 when three children she had just become stepmother to came inside five minutes after being sent to play and said they didn't know what to do. That moment set everything in motion. Drawing on Jonathan Haidt's research and her own deep dive into the neuroscience of screen addiction, Shannon explains why phones are engineered like slot machines, why Gen Z became the first generation to go through puberty on social media, and what it costs all of us when imagination is allowed to atrophy.
But this conversation is not just a warning — it is a roadmap. Shannon shares three concrete steps any family can start this week, the neuroscience behind why "defend mode" has overtaken "discover mode" in a whole generation, and why the morning habit of gratitude and intention — before the phone — can shift an entire day. She is also clear that adults need to heal first: children are watching, always, and what they see us do is what they will come to understand as normal.
Her Planet FASSA children's books, her Break the Chain adult programme, and the forthcoming FASSA Nuggets of Fun app all point in the same direction — back toward presence, connection, and the kind of joy that only happens when people are genuinely in the room with each other.
Learn more and connect:
Go to https://www.sscolter.com for...
- the Planet FASSA children's books and activity platform,
- Break the Chain coaching for adults
- FASSA Nuggets of Fun app (coming soon) — sign up at https://www.sscolter.com
Other resources:
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
To learn more about how coaching can improve your life and help you reach your goals, visit https://DorisChoto.com to connect with Lady Dee directly.
To expand on the ideas in this conversation, pick up Lady Dee's book Career Leadership Coaching Today — available on Amazon.
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