Everything is TV Now

About this episode

The episode discusses the pervasive influence of screens in daily life and the challenges of managing screen time, especially in the context of parenting.

What do you spend most of your day looking at? Listening to? Thinking about? If you’re like most Americans, the answer is probably a screen. In fact, the average American spends between 4-6 hours a day staring at their phone , and that’s not counting our laptops and TVs. I’m certainly not exempt. As mindful as I try to be, phone addiction continually creeps up on me. It’s a “quick scroll” before I get out of bed because I am soooooooo tired and isn’t blue light supposed to help wake you up? Then it’s a “short break” when I’m stuck on a writing project, followed by a little screentime during lunch or while I’m cooking dinner. But my biggest chunk of phone usage is afterschool. Despite all my aspirations to model screen sense to my kids, between when they arrive home from school and the time I need to start cooking dinner, I spend MANY minutes absently scrolling. Heretic Hereafter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. What else am I meant to do? Any task I undertake is liable to be interrupted by random kid questions. And if I actively try to spend time with these surly tweens, they’ll generally…

People in this episode

Host: Katharine Strange

Topics covered

• screen addiction
• parenting
• technology
• mindfulness
• daily habits

Keywords

• screen time
• phone addiction
• parenting challenges
• mindful technology use
• daily routines

More episodes of Heretic Hereafter Podcast

• 'Stranger Danger' is Bullshit · June 10, 2026 · 8 min
• Why "Faith Over Fear" T-Shirts Creep Me Out · June 3, 2026 · 6 min
• Everything I Feared About China Was Wrong · May 27, 2026 · 5 min
• How to Make Friends with Fear · May 20, 2026 · 6 min
• What Will People Think? · May 13, 2026 · 4 min
• Confessions of a Scaredy-Cat · May 6, 2026 · 4 min