Our Screen Time Fear Misses the Evidence | Jackie Nesi (Mom of 3, Brown Professor, Techno Sapiens) - Startup Dad | Lyssna här

Jackie Nesi, PhD is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and associate professor at Brown University. She is also the creator of Techno Sapiens, a weekly Substack newsletter with over 50,000 subscribers dedicated to translating the latest research on kids, technology, and mental health into practical advice for parents.

Beyond her academic work and her testimony before the U.S. Senate on social media safety, Jackie is a grounded voice in the parenting space who navigates the day-to-day balance of screen time in her own household. She is a mom of three young kids, married to a tech entrepreneur, and works to bridge the gap between complex psychological research and the practical demands of modern parenting. We discussed:

The disconnect between screen time panic and actual research: Why the "all screen time is bad" narrative isn't supported by science, and how parents can let go of perfectionist guilt.
The Transformation Framework: How specific features of social media (asynchrony, public reach, image focus, and permanency) fundamentally alter childhood friendships.
Dialectics in parenting: Practicing dialectical thinking to hold two seemingly contradictory truths at once (e.g., deeply loving your child while feeling completely overwhelmed).
Smart device staging: How to evaluate when a child is ready for a phone, running "tech experiments," and layering access from smartwatches and dumb phones up to full smartphones.
School phone bans and Yondr pouches: What the latest research actually shows regarding school phone policies, distraction, test scores, and student mental health.
AI as the next frontier: What parents and educators need to know right now to help kids navigate AI tools safely and responsibly.

Where to find Jackie Nesi