How I Handle My Kids and Phones
The Lazy Genius Podcast
Kendra, The Lazy Genius
4.8 • 6.8K Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When I shared in last month’s newsletter that my teenage boys finally got cell phones, the response was overwhelming. It was so big, we pivoted our plan for today’s episode to talk about it. This is such a personal conversation, which is why I’m going to share our personal experience. This isn’t prescriptive nor should it be. But in the age of parenting kids and especially teenagers, I think we need all the examples we can get. So whether your kid has had a phone for years, you’re years away from thinking about it, or somewhere in between, hopefully this episode offers encouragement to choose wisely according to what matters most to you.
Helpful Companion Links
- Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy.
- Brick device/app
- Life360 for driving safety
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- Pinwheel Phone
- Episode #477: What Is and Isn’t Working For Me This Summer
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, you're listening to the Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi. This podcast is not about hacking the system to find more time or hacking your energy to get more done. |
| 0:11.2 | Hustling to be the best or to make the most out of every opportunity is exhausting and unsustainable. |
| 0:17.7 | So here we do things differently. On the show, we value contentment, compassion, |
| 0:21.7 | and living in our season. We favor small steps over big systems. Here we are lazy geniuses, |
| 0:28.2 | being a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I'm so |
| 0:32.6 | glad you're here. Today is episode 478, how I handle kids and phones. |
| 0:38.2 | In a recent newsletter, I shared how our teenage boys finally got cell phones. |
| 0:42.7 | Since my oldest is 16 and a half, there were some obvious questions about why and how we waited so long. |
| 0:49.7 | The response was so big, in fact, that we decided to pivot our previous plan for this |
| 0:54.9 | week's episode and make talking about kids and phones instead. |
| 1:00.0 | This is such a personal conversation, which is why I'm going to share our personal |
| 1:05.2 | experience. |
| 1:07.0 | This is not prescriptive, nor should it be. |
| 1:09.6 | But in the age of parenting kids and especially |
| 1:12.1 | teenagers, I think we need all the examples we can get. A friend recently asked me for any |
| 1:19.3 | favorite books on parenting teenagers. And while I had a couple to throw her way, I said, |
| 1:24.0 | honestly, the best advice I've always gotten has come from other parents in the trenches |
| 1:28.6 | or a little bit ahead of me. |
| 1:31.0 | Tricky topics are always easier with personal examples. |
| 1:34.5 | So that's what we're going to do today. |
| 1:36.4 | I'm going to share my own. |
| 1:37.3 | I'm going to talk about why we waited so long for phones and how that worked, what our |
... |
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