Screens Aren’t the Problem — Here’s What Is | Ash Brandin (EP415)
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Simple Living for Overwhelmed Moms
Diane Boden
4.8 • 952 Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s guest, Ash Brandin, says we’ve been taught to fear screens — but what if that fear is keeping us from finding real balance? Ash is a longtime public school teacher, librarian, and creator of The Gamer Educator, where they help families understand how screens can be part of a healthy, connected life. Their new book, POWER ON: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family, offers a calm, realistic approach to parenting in a digital world — replacing guilt and restriction with confidence and connection. In this episode, we talk about why screen time isn’t the enemy, how to set boundaries that actually work, and what it looks like to raise kids who feel balanced both online and off.
Links Discussed in This Episode |
- Diane's Resource: Instagram Post - Morgan Housel on Mel Robbins show
- Book: Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
- Ash's Resource: Reminders app on iphone
- Connect with Ash:
- Website
- Book: Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family
About Ash |
Ash Brandin, EdS is an innovative public school teacher who uses their educational expertise and technological knowledge to empower families around the world. Since beginning their public school career in 2011, Ash has found innovative ways of using student interests- including video games- to increase engagement and create student-centered, immersive experiences. Ash has a wide variety of experience in teaching, including endorsements in K-12 Music, Secondary Math, Secondary Language Arts, Administration, and currently works as an endorsed K-12 Teacher Librarian. Since February 2021, their Instagram page- TheGamerEducator- has helped tens of thousands of families understand the appeal of video games and screens, and how they can be a part of a child’s life without being the center of their life. Ash lives in the Colorado front range; in their free time, they love to hike, bake, play video games, and spend time with their family.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | When things feel off limits in some way, we are actually doing the opposite of what we want, |
| 0:06.6 | because we are making them feel more special. |
| 0:08.9 | And what we often want is the opposite. |
| 0:11.3 | And so when we are able to speak about these things with neutrality, it doesn't mean that we are allowing them in any amount, right? |
| 0:18.1 | We speak about many things in kids' lives with neutrality. |
| 0:20.6 | I talk about bath time and kids' lives with neutrality. I talk about |
| 0:21.7 | bath time and bedtime and homework with neutrality, and I'm not going to let my child dictate |
| 0:28.6 | when they go to bed necessarily, but I'm also not going to moralize it. And so removing the |
| 0:34.5 | morality, I think, makes it easier to put boundaries around and absolves us of that |
| 0:41.4 | feeling of, but if they want this thing, it's bad, I'm bad. And instead just says, okay, I need to be in |
| 0:48.2 | control of this. That's okay. I'm control of many things. But removing the morality allows us to reframe the whole thing in a very |
| 0:57.2 | different approach, which I think can be very shifting for some people. |
| 1:02.1 | This is Diane Bowden, and you're listening to the minimalist moms podcast. Today's guest, |
| 1:07.4 | Ash Brandon, says we've been taught to fear screens, but what if that fear is keeping us from finding real balance? |
| 1:13.9 | Ash is a longtime public school teacher, librarian, and creator of the gamer educator, where they help families understand how screens can be a part of a healthy, connected life. |
| 1:23.7 | Their new book, Power On, Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family, |
| 1:31.5 | offers a calm, realistic approach to parenting in a digital world, |
| 1:34.7 | replacing guilt and restriction with confidence and connection. |
| 1:38.2 | In this episode, we talk about why screen time isn't the enemy, |
| 1:40.4 | how to set boundaries that actually work, |
| 1:45.7 | and what it looks like to raise kids who feel balanced both online and off. But before we get there, I quickly want to share a minimalist resource with all of you. This is a reel that I saw |
| 1:49.9 | on Instagram. It's actually from the Mel Robbins podcast with her guest, Morgan Houssel, who |
... |
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