Parenting in the Digital Age I’m sitting here in our messy little rental house outside Denver at 9:47 pm mountain time, November 2025, surrounded by three half-charged devices making that faint mosquito whine when the battery is below 20%, a bag of Goldfish crackers spilled across the couch because my 8-year-old decided “taste-testing for science” was tonight’s activity, and I’m trying to write this while simultaneously arguing via text with my 11-year-old about whether 47 minutes past bedtime cutoff still counts as “just one more Roblox game.”
So yeah. Parenting in the digital age. It’s not the glossy Instagram version. It’s this.
Why I Stopped Trying to Be the Perfect Digital Parent
I used to be one of those people who read Common Sense Media articles like scripture and set ironclad rules: 60 minutes max recreational screen time, only educational apps before 3 pm, no devices at the dinner table everrrrrr.
Then reality happened.
My youngest figured out how to sideload apps using my old phone I thought was safely locked away. My oldest discovered Twitch streamers who swear like sailors and somehow make $14,000 a month playing Minecraft. And I—me—caught myself doom-scrolling Instagram Reels at 11 pm while simultaneously yelling “five more minutes and I’m taking the iPad!” at my own kid.
Free Stock Photo of Family playing a game on the floor at home …
(While this one shows physical family play on the floor, imagine swapping the board game for controllers and a TV — same wholesome energy.)
So I stopped chasing perfect parenting in the digital age and started chasing… functional. Mostly functional. Sometimes functional-adjacent.
What Actually Works (Most Days) for Raising Tech-Smart Balanced Kids
Here’s the stuff I’ve landed on after way too much trial and a ridiculous amount of error:
- We do “tech together” time instead of just “tech limits” Once or twice a week I actually sit down and play whatever garbage battle-royale-du-jour they’re obsessed with. I ask dumb questions (“wait why is that guy made of hamburgers?”), I let them teach me, and weirdly they open up more about who they’re playing with online when I’m not looming like a suspicious parole officer. Turns out raising tech-smart kids sometimes means getting your butt kicked in Fortnite so they feel smart explaining it.
- The charger lives in the kitchen at night Not glamorous, but effective. All family devices (including mine) go on the kitchen counter at 8:30 pm. No exceptions unless there’s a legitimate school project. The first two weeks were whining hell. Now it’s just… habit. And honestly I sleep better too.
- We talk about algorithms like they’re cartoon villains My 11-year-old now knows the word “dopamine loop.” We literally watch this 4-minute YouTube explainer from The Social Dilemma team together and then she goes “wait… so TikTok is basically candy for my brain?” Yes, child. Yes it is.
- One “yes” weekend day Saturday is basically no-screen-time-rules day (within reason). They can game, stream, scroll, whatever—as long as homework is done and they’ve been outside for at least 30 minutes. It’s not balanced every day. It’s balanced-ish over the week. And weirdly, giving them one wide-open digital day makes the weekdays easier to enforce.
The Embarrassing Stuff I Still Struggle With
I still hide in the bathroom to check Twitter—I mean X—sometimes. I still say “just a second” when I’m clearly not getting off my phone in a second.
Parenting in the digital age isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about admitting you’re also addicted / confused / curious / scared right alongside your kids.
Quick Resources I Actually Use
- American Academy of Pediatrics screen time guidelines (updated 2023–2025 version) – surprisingly reasonable these days
- Qustodio or Google Family Link – pick one and actually use the weekly reports instead of ignoring them like I did for six months
- Wait Until 8th pledge community – I didn’t wait until 8th for smartphones and I regret it a little
- The book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt – reading it right now and it’s making me feel seen and also slightly terrified
Look. I don’t have this figured out.
But I’m trying—messily, inconsistently, sometimes grumpily—to raise kids who understand tech instead of fear it or worship it.
