DA386 | High-Def Parenting: Breaking Free from Digital Distractions (Darren Whitehead)

✅ Why smartphones make us feel god-like (and why that's dangerous)

✅ The 4 research-backed rules for kids and technology

✅ How a church-wide digital fast transformed an entire community

✅ What a therapy dog named Bruce taught him about presence

SUMMARY:

Parenting teenagers in a digital world feels impossible—especially when you're struggling with your own phone addiction. In this episode, Darren Whitehead (dad of 4 teenage girls) shares how he led his entire church through a 40-day digital fast and discovered the secret to high-definition parenting. You'll hear why smartphones make us feel god-like, how to have the phone conversation with your kids, and what a Havanese dog named Bruce taught him about presence.

FULL SHOW NOTES:

Key Takeaways:

• Smartphones simulate God's attributes (omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence) and we weren't built for limitless power
• Collective action is more effective than individual willpower—do digital fasts as a community, not alone
• No smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more unsupervised outdoor play
• When you put your phone down, you experience parenting in "high definition"—fully present and aware of these fleeting moments
• The most precious moments with your kids are being exchanged for infinitely trivial distractions

Guest

Darren Whitehead is the author of The Digital Fast and senior pastor of Journey Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He's a former youth pastor turned girl dad of four teenage daughters (ages 11, 14, 16, and 18). Darren has led thousands of people through digital detoxes and speaks regularly about technology, parenting, and spiritual formation. He and his wife live in Tennessee with their daughters and Bruce, their Havanese therapy dog.

 

Links Mentioned:

• Send a Voice Message to DadAwesome
• Apply to join the next DadAwesome Accelerator Cohort: Email awesome@dadawesome.org
• Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text the word "Dad" to (651) 370-8618
• The Digital Fast by Darren Whitehead
• Journey Church Franklin, Tennessee
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• Sissy Goff (teenage girl counselor)