How does self-determination theory apply to screens?

Parenting in the digital age can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. For this episode, Emily brings in the insight of Ash Brandin for a thoughtful conversation about her book, Power On, and what healthy screen use can actually look like for families. 

With over 15 years of hands-on experience teaching in the classroom, Ash shares a perspective that moves away from fear and guilt, encouraging parents to think about screens with the same balance and neutrality we often bring to food or other everyday choices.

By the end, you’ll hopefully have a more compassionate lens for thinking about tech and some practical, flexible ideas for creating a calm, balanced approach to screen time that truly fits with your own family’s life.

Listen and Learn: 

• How viewing kids’ screen time with moral neutrality can help parents move past guilt and fear to understand the real purposes screens serve and the deeper systemic issues driving our reliance on them
• Why the old “two-hour screen limit” is outdated and oversimplified, and how a personalized family media plan can lead to healthier, more sustainable screen use
• Reframing of screen time and how systemic factors make it unfair to place all the blame or responsibility on individual parents, and why true change requires collective, not individual, solutions
• How self-determination theory explains kids’ relationships with screens, not as addiction but as a way to meet core needs for autonomy, competence, and connection, and how parents can stay neutral, understand what needs are being met, and help kids find healthy, varied ways to fulfill them
• Why not everything that releases dopamine is addictive, how our relationship to an activity matters more than the activity itself, and why screens aren’t “evil dopamine machines”

Resources: 

• Power on: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780306836992
• Ash’s Website https://www.thegamereducator.com/
• Connect with Ashon Social Media: 
• https://www.instagram.com/thegamereducator
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ash-brandin025
• For More on Ash’s Work, Subscribe to their Substack https://thegamereducator.substack.com/ 

About Ash Brandin

Ash Brandin, EdS, known online as TheGamerEducator, empowers families to make screen time sustainable, manageable, and beneficial for the whole family. Now in their 15th year of teaching middle school, they help caregivers navigate the world of tech with consistent, loving boundaries, founded on respect for children, appreciation of video games and tech, and knowledge of pedagogical techniques. Ash has appeared on podcasts including Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, Good Inside with Dr. Becky, Care and Feeding from Slate, Brave Writer Podcast with Julie Bogart, Learning Curve with Mr. Chazz, Burnt Toast with Virginia Sole-Smith, Your Parenting Mojo with Jen Lumanlan, and Kid Talk with Katie Plunkett, and has contributed to articles featured on Romper, Scary Mommy, Lifehacker, The Daily Beast, USA Today, and NPR. Their bestselling book, "Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family" debuted in August, 2025. In their free time, Ash loves to hike, bake, play video games, and spend time with their family. 

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