The Dopamine Crisis in Kids: Why Screen Time Advice Isn't Working for Your Child

Screens—and managing them—have become one of the biggest daily struggles for parents today. In today's episode, I'm joined by Michaeleen Doucleff , author of Dopamine Kids , and this conversation felt both grounding and eye-opening. Like so many of us, she found herself struggling with screens and ultra-processed foods in her own homeand instead of blaming or restricting harder, she got curious about what's really going on underneath. We talk about what dopamine actually isand the myths we've gotten wrong. Why the pull toward scrolling and "easy" rewards is so powerful, and what it really means to help kids (and ourselves) do hard things. She introduces her model for understanding what she calls "dopamine magnets," how to curate the cues in our environment, and why resistance alone doesn't work.

You can listen to The Dopamine Crisis in Kids: Why Screen Time Advice Isn't Working for Your Child online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Dopamine Crisis in Kids: Why Screen Time Advice Isn't Working for Your Child is an episode from Authentic Parenting by Anna Seewald.

This episode is 01:03:22 long.

This episode was published on May 1, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Authentic Parenting when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.