Smart Phones, AI, and Social Media - Will the Kids Be Ok?

After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings

Dear Media and Big Little Feelings

Kristin Gallant, Big Little Feelings, After Bedtime With Big Little Feelings, After Bedtime, Deena Margolin, Parenting, Kids & Family

4.7 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Parenting has never been easy , but parenting in the age of AI, social media, and private digital spaces is something no generation has navigated before. And truthfully? It’s terrifying, for so many of us with kids entering the digital age. In this episode, Deena sits down with digital wellness expert and Ginko co-founder Larz to break through the fear and give us what we desperately need when it comes to smartphones, iPads, and technology: clarity, language, and actual tools.

This episode will:

Help you connect your child’s screen habits to their emotional health
Give you tangible tools so that you feel empowered in your approach to your child’s screen usage
Help you prevent your biggest fears lurking on the internet by instilling *prevention* tools
Find out how AI changes the risks — and the conversations — for kids

This episode will change how you think about technology, safety, and emotional health at home. Instead of feeling exasperated, you’ll feel empowered to set boundaries, know what tools to use to optimize your kid’s relationship with their screen, and breathe easy knowing you’ve got this.

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

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Produced by Dear Media

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The following podcast is a dear media production.
0:05.2	Welcome back to another episode of After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings.
0:09.2	Today, it's just me, Dina, and we are diving into a topic that feels very overwhelming for a lot of us, a topic that maybe we don't even want to think about, but we have to.
0:20.0	Screens, social media, and now AI, and the terrifying question underneath it all, what is this doing to our kids?
0:28.3	So if you have ever felt overwhelmed, outpaced, like you're already behind before your kid even has a phone, or maybe they have a phone, and you have no idea how to navigate it. It's feeling
0:38.4	out of control. This episode is for you. My guest today is Larissa May, and you might know her
0:44.7	as Lars. She's just an all-around amazing person and she's been living and breathing digital
0:50.4	wellness for over a decade. She's the founder of half the story, a movement that's
0:54.7	reshaping the way teens think about tech and mental health, and now she's the CEO of Ginko,
1:00.6	the first clinician-backed AI tool built to help parents manage screen time, social media,
1:06.2	and online safety with real peace of mind. And I know this can be an anxiety-provoking topic. Do not worry.
1:12.3	This is not one of those tech doomsday conversations. This is the episode that puts the power
1:18.4	back in your hands. You will feel confident walking away from this episode. We're going to break
1:24.7	down what parents are getting wrong about screen time and how to fix it.
1:29.0	Why our instincts to restrict and ban and control just aren't working?
1:33.7	How to start open, honest conversations with your kids about tech, even if you've been avoiding it.
1:39.3	And what you actually need to know about AI and social media and this new digital parenting world that
1:44.6	we're all raising our kids in. We are doing it for the first time ever. And the good news,
1:49.9	you don't have to be a tech expert. You just need to listen to this conversation. We're going to
1:54.9	walk through it all together and give you real tools that you can start using today to protect your kids.
2:02.8	Welcome to after bedtime, where the house is finally quiet, but the real noise begins.
2:09.3	The thoughts, the questions, the wondering if you're doing any of this right.
	...

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