REALLY? –
June 6, 2025 – You and I all know the horror stories. We experienced them ourselves, or have at least seen them, especially in…restaurants. Parents and children file in. The kids each have their brightly-coloured media devices, and the baby is playing with Mom’s phone in the stroller. Once they’re seated, the children (sometimes with headphones on) bury themselves in their cartoons, shows, videos, movies or games.
Screen addiction is real. So is overcoming screen addiction, for young and old. Having studied, written and given media workshops on this topic for close to two decades, I have found that not only is Screen Addiction Syndrome (SAS) not going away–it has become normalized. No big deal.
“Yes, I’m addicted. Yes, my child is addicted. What are you going to do? That’s just how life is in 2025.” Nothing is “just how it is.” As adults, we have agency, we have choices. Children, dependent on adult guidance, have choices to a much lesser degree. To quote every single parent of the ancient 20th century: “If everyone is jumping off a cliff, are you going to follow them?” Melanie Hempe, was devastated when her eldest son dropped out of university due to his video game addiction. With her background in nursing, Melanie began researching, and came up with an in-person and multimedia program that “empowers families to prevent screen problems and reclaim their kids from toxic screens: social media, video games, and pornography.”
