How Smartphones Are Rewiring Your Kid’s Brain (And What You Can Do About It) | Clare Morell
The 9941 Podcast
iHeartPodcasts
4.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on the Granger Smith Podcast, we’re diving deep into one of the most pressing—and honestly, most convicting—challenges facing parents today: how do we raise healthy, thriving kids in a world dominated by screens?
Granger and Amber sit down with Clare Morell, author of The Tech Exit and a leading voice on protecting kids from the hidden dangers of smartphones, social media, and online content. Clare shares her unique perspective as a policy expert, a pastor’s wife, and a mom of three young kids, drawing from years of research, interviews, and real-life stories.
The conversation gets honest about:
➡️ Why traditional “screen time limits” and parental controls just aren’t enough
➡️ The neuroscience behind screen addiction and why moderation isn’t the answer
➡️ How screens are quietly reshaping our children’s brains, desires, and ability to enjoy real life
➡️ Shocking new research on physical health (like the rise in kids with permanent dry eye from too much screen time)
➡️ The spiritual impact of tech on our kids’ ability to know God, love others, and find real joy But it’s not just about the dangers—Clare offers practical hope.
She unpacks the core principles from The Tech Exit, including how any parent (no matter how much screen time they’ve already allowed) can hit reset, detox as a family, and reclaim the home from digital distractions. You’ll hear stories of families who’ve opted out, how to find allies in your community, and why a smartphone-free childhood is possible—and actually a better, easier path than you might think. Whether you’re parenting littles, wrestling with tech and teens, or just trying to find your own healthy balance, this episode is packed with wisdom, encouragement, and practical steps to take today.
Resources & Links: Check out Clare’s book The Tech Exit and her discussion guide at https://www.thetechexit.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Claire, thank you so much. This is such an important topic and I'm glad you're with us, |
| 0:05.7 | Amber and I to talk about our kids and how bad we're doing, raising them. |
| 0:12.9 | Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you're coming from and what you've done |
| 0:18.2 | with this project? Yes, thanks so much for asking. Thanks for having me on. |
| 0:22.6 | So I am in Washington, D.C. My husband is a pastor in pastoral ministry, but I've spent the last |
| 0:29.3 | several years working in the public policy space. So I work for a think tank, which for those |
| 0:34.5 | outside of D.C. is a nonprofit that tries to help support government |
| 0:39.3 | with research and expertise in certain issue areas. And so my work has focused on protecting |
| 0:45.7 | kids online from harms, from smartphones, social media, and online pornography. And so I've worked |
| 0:51.3 | with states on legislation at the state level to try to better protect our kids from these harms and then have also worked on the federal level with advising members of Congress on different legislative approaches. So I come to this with from mainly a policy background, but then I'm also a parent and I have three young children. And so my heart really behind all of this |
| 1:11.8 | is to help other parents better know how to protect their kids. Yeah, so good. I heard from your |
| 1:17.5 | publicist. He texted me and told me about this book and said that you're, you know, you're going to be |
| 1:22.9 | doing podcast and it turns out that that's your husband and I love him as a brother and he's also hey he's |
| 1:30.1 | also a really good publicist he's a good he's a good promoter he's your manager my biggest man I know |
| 1:35.2 | I love him that's great how old are your kids uh we our oldest is five our middle is three |
| 1:42.6 | and then our youngest is 16 months. |
| 1:45.3 | You're in the thick of it. |
| 1:47.6 | Yes, we're in the little years for sure. |
| 1:49.6 | And you're traveling, you're doing, |
| 1:52.4 | for at least the last three weeks, |
| 1:54.3 | you've been really busy, am I right? |
| 1:57.3 | Yes, this has been exceptional for our family. |
... |
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