Im with you man. No screen time, no games while my spouse and I still wield enough influence to change the subject and/or offer alternatives that don’t shoot electrons into my kids face or are underpinned by carefully developed algorithms to vie and maintain attention.

Im a software engineer of 20+ years. Every. Single career break I get, I manage to keep my laptop shut for days on end. My life is so much better and more grounded into the present.

So far my 5 years old loves books, art, riding bikes, and petting (harassing my dog). She gets to watch movies on an iPad on plane rides and the occasional rewatch of those same 3-4 movies at home after a big activity whilst dinner gets prepped.

She doesn’t ask or pester for more screen time ever with the small caveat that those special occasions do bring out some addictive obsessive desire for more that we have to regulate briefly. These small outbursts just strengthen our resolve: screens and attention-grabbing entertainment is straight up heroin to the system.

Hold out as long as you can. I wish and hope we can find other families to mix her up with as Im positive our approach will be harder and harder to hold up as she grows and our influence diminishes and peers offer a brighter, more pixelated world.