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Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection and the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello

 : and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

This week we talk about having a tech Sabbath

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well hey there friends and welcome to my favorite time of day, my favorite day of the week. It is fry.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yay.

Dr. Jessica Peck: We are on Friday in July and that means that we are right in the heart of healthy habits for families in tech habits. And we've been talking about these tech habits habits all summer long. So important started about the end of May. We've talked about some things like reading, engaging intentionally and watching faith based films with your family, unplugging on vacation, being in pictures. But we've also talked about some core tech habits that your family needs like having tech free times and tech free rhythms and tidying up your tech and being transparent about your tech, tracking your tech. And we've talked about being intentional. And this week we one of the the tech habit that we're talking about is having a tech Sabbath. Now I want you to hang in there with me because Sabbath is a biblical concept. But technology has just invaded every parts of our lives and we're going to talk about how we can translate this biblical discipline into the world of our technology.

In this world where technology is always on, we need a rest from tech

Let me start with a verse of scripture, two verses of scripture actually that come to you from the book of Luke, chapter 10, verses 41 and 42. Now this is well known, well loved Bible story that's convicting. People will ask often, are you a Mary? Are you a Martha, Are you a worrier? Are you a worshiper? And Martha of course is busy doing all of these things. And Mary is just sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. And Jesus says to Martha, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better now in how does that relate to technology? In this world where technology is always on and we are running around doing all the tech things, we need to be intentional, to be have our m hearts and our minds and our eyes and our intentions focused on the Lord and making sure that we are discipling our families in a 247 digital world. Now the reality is we live in a culture that is never off, that never rest. It used to be I know when I was growing up you would think of NewSong York as the city that never sleeps. And I think, what would that be like to have a city that was open 247 where the stores never closed? Because I grew up in a time where stores were closed on Sundays, Many were. But we live in a culture today that goes 247 and you don't have to just live in Times Square, NewSong York City for that. Streaming never stops. Content is available 247 now. I think about when I was raising my kids. My kids are yet now young adults. I didn't even have that. I didn't have a smartphone. I didn't raise them in that. We didn't have cable growing up because my husband likes to save money and thank goodness he did because I think that was for our best. We live in a world where news cycles refresh. Every second. M 5 minutes ago is old news. Messaging apps create expectation of instant response. We don't. It's no longer when we go home and check our messages. Social media rewards constant presence of being on it tells people. Many social media platform tell people if you're active on it or when you were last active on it. And we have a work culture that increasingly assumes that you are accessible 24 7. I don't just own you. Monday through Friday 8 to 5, you need to answer your email, your text message anytime. The result for families is not good. Parents feel like we're always behind. Kids feel like they're always observed or always performing. Children feel like they're competing with a screen. The adults around them are using a screen and they're competing for attention. Grandparents can replace social connection with just endless TV consumption or scrolling news feeds. I know I am calling out some tough truths, but I'm calling out myself too. I know I struggle with this because for me, I struggle with replacing rest with just passive consumption of media. And the core reality is that we're no longer just using technology as a tool. That's just not true anymore. We're living inside of it. It has become our ecosystem and we need a rest from tech, from technology. And when we look back at Mary being worried and upset about many things, man, that is exactly what social media, what online engagement does to us. When you're watching the news, you're scrolling through social media, you're looking at apps, it can make you worried and upset about many things. That's exactly what it's triggering fears and insecur and failures and numbing emotions so that we don't have to deal with them, repair relationships in our lives. And we saw that Mary chose presence over productivity. This, my friends, is why the Bible has such good wisdom for us. No, it doesn't tell us exactly what to do with social media or what kind of screen time we should have, but it tells us we need to value presence over productivity. That is a lesson that stands the test of time. And Jesus affirms that not everything that seems so urgent in the moment is actually important. And the key takeaway from that for us here in modern day America is that not everything demanding your attention deserves it. That's just the honest truth we have trained ourselves to believe. If I don't respond immediately, I'm going to be canceled. It's rude or whatever it is. If I unplug, I'm going to fall behind. If I miss something, I'm going to lose a connection or an opportunity. Scripture consistently models something that's very countercultural to that. It models withdrawing for prayer, resting from our work, being quiet before the Lord, having intentional rhythms of stopping, not being on 24 7. And we know that modern day research, scientific research, ah, affirms this constant connectivity increases our stress and anxiety. Shocker. Our notification overload reduces attention span and working memory. Our screen saturation messes with our sleep in the worst possible ways. When we don't have downtime, it reduces our ability to emotionally regulate and we get overstimulated much more easily. We want to check out. We don't have resilience for things that are tough. When we passively consume media, we honestly have lower life satisfaction over time. And yet we hear those things and, and probably very few of you would push back on that and say that's not true. And yet we don't change our behavior, we let it just continue to happen.

Sabbath helps protect you against burnout by honoring God's design for rhythm

So I invite you to consider a Sabbath, a tech Sabbath that's more than just rest. It's not just time off. It is a God ordained rhythm of pausing, of stopping, of trusting, of recentering our priorities, our thoughts, our actions, our beliefs, our emotions. And we see this, that God rested not because he was tired, but because he was establishing that pattern of holy pause. And we were commanded in the tent. And the Exodus, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. The key principles of Sabbath are stop working, stop producing, stop striving and start trusting, start Focusing and fixing your attention on the Lord. It's a declaration the world is going to keep on going even when I stop. But I'm going to stop and I'm going to spend time with the Lord. Sabbath was designed for the very human limitations that we have. We are not created to be 24,7 creatures. We're not created for 27 24. 7 creation and consumption and output. We are embodied beings with limited attention. We have limited emotional capacity. We have limited cognitive endurance. We can only endure so much in our minds before we check out. And when we accept those limitations and when we view our attention as something to steward, something to spend, we often talk about spending time. There are things that are more expensive than others for our emotions, for our thoughts, for our physical endurance even. And when we spend those mindlessly on a 247 culture, we have leftovers, limited leftovers, or even maybe a debt to give to our families. Sabbath helps protect you against burnout by honoring God's design for rhythm. We have work, we have rest. And during that rest we have worship and renewal. And the SAB Mark 2:27 says the, Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Sabbath is a gift. It is not a burden, it's not a rule, it's not a limitation. It's a, oh, I can't do this. It's a, God is inviting me into rest now. Sabbath was protecting against some things, both then and now. In ancient life, it ah, protected against endless agricultural lab economic pressure to constantly produce. They had to produce food and identity was tied to how much you produce. But in modern life we really face a different version of the same exact pressures. Digital productivity, emotional availability, constant communication, being stimulated by the algorithm 247 with entertainment that never ends. Technology removed natural stopping points. There is no stopping point for endless scrolling. Sabbath is the way to restore those natural stopping points. Because it is a natural stopping point. We can translate Sabbath into our modern tech world. And it is. It's not a new theology, it's ancient wisdom that's applied to modern life. So it means stopping work stop and starting to trust God, being fully present. It's stopping, scrolling and streaming and checking and responding and consuming and intentionally start. Presence, presence with God, presence with people, Embodied rest, silence, reflection, being present. And tech needs a Sabbath. Honestly, I think more than anything else in this world. But it's uniquely different from other tools because it, it is infinite. There is no natural stopping point. I've said that several times, it's true. The other challenges are that it's portable. It's always with us. It's hard to rest from it when it's always in your pocket on your person. And it is personalized as well. It is hyper personalized, always relevant to us, always pulling us in. It is very stimulating, it rewards attention and it socially reinforces because it's always connected to others, how we perceive others, how others perceive us. And if we don't choose, it doesn't rest. So we do not rest. If we do not choose to walk away from it and rest, you will not rest. So what does a tech Sabbath actually look like in practicality? Well, let's talk about a real life translation of a Sabbath into a digital age. Because we talk about phones are put away from us. Not just silenced, not just do not disturb, but actually like put away in a drawer in a table. Like turning off notifications, streaming, pausing your streaming, closing your social media, interrupting your news cycle, powering down that gaming system. I know, I know that's, that can be tough. But it, but we have to replace it with something and Sabbath can help us replace that with shared meals with no tech. Conversations that aren't interrupted. Outdoor time that you're not looking at through a screen or experiencing through a screen to post later. You just looking at it with your eyes and being in the moment. It can be reading or storytelling or prayer or worship or even boredom. Relearning how to be bored in a healthy way. It's not an absence of tech, it's a reordering of your priorities. It is a reclaiming of the attention. It is restraining, restraining the desire that you have to engage on media and restoring your relationships. and the spiritual core of Sabbath is trust. Do you trust God to sustain what you're trying to control every day through your tech use? Can you stop checking messages and trust that things will wait? Can you step away from updates and trust that you're not going to miss what matters? Can you be unavailable and still trust that you are okay through who God made you to be? Sabbath, it's, it's not just discipline. It's trusting that you're not in control of the world. God is you. Consuming media or News24 7 is not going to change the outcome of war in another country. It is trusting God and praying about that. Being informed, yes, but also trusting God. We need this Sabbath rhythm because without it our families are learning that constant stimulation is normal and that we are always available to anybody who wants us. And our relationships are just fragmented through the lens of. And rest is about just passively consuming technology instead of intentionally restoring our souls with Sabbath rhythm. Your presence becomes expected in your home, your attention becomes intentional, your relationships deepen, our anxiety decreases. And that is important. A Sabbath is that deliberate pause, that deliberate stopping of the activity that seems normal all the time so that we can remember who God is, who he made us to be, and what matters most in this world. So we're talking about a tech Sabbath. We're not inventing something new. We're just asking, what does it look like to stop that digital noise on purpose? I'll have some practical applications for you when we come back. I'll see you after this break.

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Made For More by Bethel Music, Jenn Johnson, and Josh Baldwin : I wasn't made to be tending a grave I was called by name Born and raised back to life again I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame When a fountain of grace is running my way I know I am yours and I was made

 : for more I know who I am cause I know who you are the cross of salvation Was only a star. Now I am chosen m free and forgiven. I have a future to it is worth the living.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is made M for More by Bethel Music, Jenn Johnson and Josh Baldwin. You were made for more. We were made for more in this life than just endless infinite scrolling.

A Tech Sabbath is a planned pause from that digital scrolling

Welcome to Fridays, where we're talking about healthy habits for families. We're right in the middle of tech habits and today we're right in the middle of the of an invitation for you to consider what a Tech Sabbath would look like in your home. What are ways that you could intentionally pause and disconnect from tech and intentionally seek practices that renew and restore your relationships, your relationships with God, your relationship with your family, your relationships with people in your life who you love. A Tech Sabbath is a picture planned pause from that digital scrolling. It's a reset for your nervous system and a, recentering of your attention on God and the people he has entrusted to you. And listen, all stages of life need this. Working parents, they really need to break the cycle of constant responsiveness. Let me tell you. I am a pediatric nurse practitioner and I worked for 25 years taking call. I was on call in a job where I was on call in some way, shape or form. And it's really hard, it's really hard to step away. And I can be very noble minded and lofty about it and, oh, this parent has a sick child and I need to be there. And. And the truth is I really did try, but there were some times where I needed to be there for my own family, for my own kids, more than other people's kids. And I had to put those healthy boundaries in place. I see this a lot in people who are in ministry or people who are first responders, people who are teachers who really care about their students. There are all kinds of professions where you can be really noble minded about it. But at the same time, you have to think, what is that costing your family? What is that costing your own personal health? And how do you take a Sabbath from that? Teens need to step out of social performance pressure. I have seen teens who have had a break from technology for 10 years. I served every summer as a camp nurse in some form or fashion. And there were a lot. Most of those camps did not allow kids to have their phones there. Now, did they complain? No, I did not see complaining. Now maybe at the beginning, before it happened, they would say, what do you mean we have to give up our phone? How in the world am I gonna, am I gonna live this week? And the Parents will say, how am I gonna get in touch with them in an emergency? And we would reassure them. There are carrying adults, around all the time. They can ask me to contact you at any time. But most of the time, once those kids got there and everybody else especially didn't have the phone or the digital access, oh, it was like a weight lifted off their shoulders. They didn't have to worry about being photographed every moment or curating their experience for others to consume instead of just consuming it themselves. They overall, I have found that kids love when they have that break. You just gotta break through that initial protest. For children, as Digital Sabbath, a text Sabbath can help them rediscover boredom and be imaginative and learn how to play with a cardboard box again. That's a great thing. And for grandparents, a digital Sabbath can reduce some passive TV consumption or scrolling. And we are seeing trends where every generation has their issues, has their challenge. So don't feel like I'm picking on you, I'm calling you out. But a lot of times we think, oh, older generations don't struggle with this. But, you know, I think younger generations would call out digital engagement. But the truth is where, whatever your age or life stage or stage, if you don't schedule rest, technology is going to make sure that you don't find it. And tech Sabbaths do a lot of amazing things for family. It resets our nervous system. Some research has found we have less dopamine overload. We have a lower stimulation threshold so we don't get overstimulated and, and triggered and have that anger response more quickly. It makes us sleep better and it improves our emotional regulation. Those things are important. But when we take that time away from digital relationships in a Text Sabbath, it restores our attention to the relationships that are in our home. Conversations are going to last longer, be deeper, more emotional with greater eye contact. And, the people we're talking with are going to feel prioritized and seen and known and loved and heard. It also reduces anxiety in comparison because there's no constant social comparison loop. Comparison is the thief of joy. There's no breaking news that's going to trigger your anx cycle. There's no pressure to curate your life perfectly for others. It can strengthen our spiritual disciplines because we have more space for prayer, more awareness of God's presence, more time for reflection and gratitude, and less noise that's just competing for our attention in that. And really importantly, I think it can break the always available illusion you're actually not needed 24, 7 in most cases and most scenarios, most messages can wait. Most emails are not emergencies, Most notifications are not urgent. So how do we do this? Well, it can look different for different families. Not every family is going to be the same. So I challenge you to think about what a Tech Sabbath would look like in your life. Let me give you some ideas because there's no one size fits all. The core principle here is being intentional about having a pause, a stop. It's not a rigid formula. It's this family rhythm of a tech pause. And it can look very different. So the goal is not just perfection or rigid adherence. It's consistent, being consistent, intentional about your presence. So a full family Tech Sabbath, that would be the highest goal. Maybe for some families in some ages and stages, that would look easier, be easier to do. Maybe your whole family. Maybe if you have young kids, this can be easier. You just go offline for a set block of time. Maybe it's an hour, maybe it's a day. No streaming, no scrolling, no gaming, no social media devices are placed in a central parking spot. Where is your tech parking spot? It could be a basket, a drawer, a kitchen counter, nothing fancy. Maybe this would be best on the weekends. Or families who want a strong reset, families who have younger kids and you have more control. And the most important thing is what replaces that tech? Is it a meal together? Is it a, board game? A card game? Outdoor time? Is it cooking or reading? Conversation? What is it that you're going to do together as a family that maybe you wouldn't be able to do as easily? Without that, you can create a shared memory instead of just these parallel screen lives. Now if that doesn't work for you, something more realistic, maybe a partial Tech Sabbath. Maybe it's one protected window each day. Maybe that tech free zone, that tech free time that you have established, you can start framing that also as this is our Sabbath time, this is our rest. Maybe it's from dinner until bedtime, maybe it's in the morning when you're getting ready.

Think about protecting the most relational hours of your day

M and that could be good for maybe busy working parents or teens who have homework demands, or families who are in sports or after school activities. Or just you just think, I just need a baby step to get forward. So maybe that's no phones at dinner, no streaming after a certain hour. But again, you what are you going to gauge in and set instead? And think about protecting the most relational hours of your day. Where's the most interaction that you have that you can protect? And maybe you think, okay, that's. That's even still seems like I don't know if we could do that all together as a family. Well, maybe you do it as individuals. You start small and have an individual. Each person is going to choose their own text pause window. Maybe that's Sunday morning, maybe it's Saturday afternoon. Maybe it's your kids have a screen free morning. What is individually best for just everybody's practicing having that pause. And that might be households who have varying schedules or just have a high tech dependence. That's okay. You're not alone. That personal awareness before you have a family wide rhythm can be there now. Maybe you need a low pressure reset. Maybe you're going to have a slow Sabbath. It's not a full shutdown, but intentional reduction. Maybe it's just okay, no social media or maybe it's no streaming, or maybe it's only essential communication. I'm just going to call or text now. This can be good for people who like me, we're on call, professionals like, all right, I'm on call. I'm only going to do that to look at that. Maybe that's for pastors or first responders or people who just need a slower start. Maybe we're in the summer. Maybe something that would work for your family would be a seasonal Sabbath, a seasonal text Sabbath. Maybe this is just, we're going to do this for a month. We'll have this, this pause in these certain times. Maybe we're just going to try it on Sundays. Maybe just a season that. Okay, in this season, in this month, in this week, we're going to try a reset, a pause. Now there's different ways that you can implement this for different ages and stages of your family. For those of you with little Littles, you, you're going to focus on being a good model yourself that is really all about what you are doing. You don't pick up your screen during meal, you don't pick up your screen during bedtime. You're going to really engage during that Sabbath period, especially of playing, reading, playing outside. Whatever you're you going to do, they are going to follow what you are going to do and the expectation will be set there. Now for elementary children that Sabbath can be structured device parking times. Like, all right, it's time for all the devices to go to the parking lot, the box, whatever it is just communicating that family norm that our family rests from screens together. One thing that my family did one summer was keep track of the time that everybody's devices were in the box together and really counting up those Minutes that we got back together was really convicting for me, honestly to see what a difference that can make, the moments that I invested in them, not just the time we had off our screens, but the time we spent together. Now, for teens, this can be definitely, you're gonna have more protest, it can be more difficult. So involve them in setting the boundaries. The best way to get teenager buy in is to let them into the conversation and setting the boundaries and let those boundaries be for the parents themselves and let them hold you accountable. You do those things, you're going to have tremendous buy in because if they're going to be off their phone for this day that they've helped decide, they're going to make sure you're off your phone too. So again, a respectful way that my kids tell me all the time, hang up and hang out, mom. And they tell me that it's, this is not punishment, this is not investment into them, into your family. And so look at what those can be.

A Tech Sabbath is not about rejecting technology, it's about reclaiming it

For parents, one of the hardest challenges of a Tech Sabbath is letting the go of the lie that everything feels urgent. Oh, I've got to look at this. I can't let this get behind. I've, I've got to do this notification. I've got to respond to her right away. Communicate your boundaries clearly with those in your social circle and don't feel the need to justify your availability. Say, I'm sorry I didn't respond to you earlier and it's been 47 minutes. Minutes. Like just communicate that. Just say, this is the time frame that I'll respond and communicate that with your friends. That can be important even for those who are maybe an empty nester, who don't have kids, who are grandparenting stage. Just shift from passive TV consumption, just streaming something mindlessly to intentionally watching something together. Balance entertainment with conversations and walks and games and in person things. Use that, that Sabbath to not just isolate from the TV or the digital device, but to increase your relational connection. Now it can be hard. Again, the, the part of the success is communication, communicating with everyone. So just some simple things that you can say, some simple scripts that you can have is, hey, we're offline during this time. We'll respond when we get back online. That's it. We check messages at this set time or if it's urgent, please call. Otherwise we'll get back to you later. That can remove guilt and anxiety about not responding. Just trains other people in your circle. Oh, yep, they're on a Sabbath today. They, they'll respond tomorrow. Normalizes a delayed response as a healthy engagement in your family, not just something that's rude. So again, if you only just remove the technology, you're going to create a vacuum. So Tech Sabbath should intentionally replace scrolling with conversations, streaming with shared activity, notification with silence or music, passive consumption with active presence and not be isolating, but be connecting. That is important. The whole the pattern is stop your normal digital activity, reconnect with God, with your family, with yourself, and restore whatever it is that needs to be restored. If that's attention to someone who needs it, if that's sleep for you, if that's emotional balance, if that's investment in your relationship, that's what it is about. So think about when you're talking with your family. Just talk about what time of day feels most sacred in our home, when are we most distracted by our devices and what relationships need more attention. What could we invest in if we divert our digital attention to in person relationship that creates And then choose a model that works for your life. Not someone else's ideal, but something that works for you. It's not about how long you disconnect, it's about how you are intentionally reconnecting with those things that is so important. You are not missing life by stepping away from your screen. You are. Those urgent moments are not urgent. What is urgent is the people that God has entrusted to you that is so important. And then debrief after you have a Sabbath, think how did it feel? What did we notice? What was easier? What was harder than we expected? What changed in our relationships? Those things are important because biblical wisdom reminds us that we are not created to be omnipresent. omniscient. Last time I checked, those are God's attributes, not ours. We are not called to constant availability. Even Jesus withdrew from the crowds. And we know Martha was distracted by many things. And Mary chose what is better. A tech Sabbath is not about rejecting technology. It's choosing what is better. Presence over pressure, connection over consumption, that is important. It's not about escaping your life, it's about reclaiming it. And when you step away from that constant digital noise, you're making space to hear the Lord and see your family and remember what actually matters. When we come back, I'll have home front headlines and they're all tech related. We'll talk about what happened and what you need to know and what you can do about it. See you on the other side of this break.

The war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts

Buddy Smith Jeff Chamblee: We live in a day when America's families are under attack like never before. Buddy Smith Senior Vice President of the American Family Association. The war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts. The Internet, Hollywood, Washington D.C. america's corporate boardrooms. And the list goes on. At American Family association, we're committed to standing against the enemies of God, the enemies of your family. And we recognize it's an impossible task without God's favor and your partnership. Thank you for being faithful to pray for this ministry, to give financially and to respond to our calls for activism. What you do on the home front is crucial to what we do on the battlefront. We praise God for your faithfulness and may he give us many victories in the battles ahead as we work together to restore our nation. Biblical foundations

Speak To The Mountains by Chris McClarney: so I won't be shaken I won't be moved My God is faithful his promise is true. So I speak to the mountain

 : oh it's time to move Cuz my God is bigger, better, stronger, greater.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Speak to the Mountains by Chris McClarney And you know, everywhere I go, most, most questions that I get from families are related to technology. How do we deal with it? It is a threat and it is an opportunity as well. There are ways that technology can be used for good, but if we're not intentional about it, it can feel like a mountain in your personal life and your family life. And it just feels like it's a constant battle. But God has equipped you for such a time as this. And as we move through the summer, we've been talking about tech habits for your family. I invite you to listen in on any and all of 2026 and you can listen to some of those habits. If you want the one minute version, you can listen to the Dr. Nurse Mama coaching minutes on any podcast platform or afr.net and we're talking today about Tech Sabbath and having an intentional rest, an intentional time of disconnection. And not just disconnection, but intentionally reconnecting and reinvesting with your family. And that is important because we have talked all kinds of ways about the ways and that constant tech connection negatively impacts our families. And we're arriving at our homefront Headlines where I talk to you about headlines I'm following and tell you what is happening, how it's impacting your family and why you and what you can do to respond to it. That is what we're talking about.

Smartphones near bedtime directly interfere with melatonin production, study finds

And so I saw a headline this week that came from a large cohort study. This is a study of a, of a group. It followed about 2,000 young people in the United States across 21 different sites and research. Now this is going to catch the attention of parents because this is a question that I get all the time. They tracked children who did not own smartphones until they were age 13, and then it followed them into age 14. So one of the most common questions I get is, when should my kid get a smartphone? And my, my very short answer to that is, as late as possible, delay it as long as you possibly can. And every family is a little bit different. Lay it, delay it as long as you possibly can. And, and they looked at these research, looked at the, the how smartphone, having a smartphone and using a smartphone related to some specific health outcomes. They looked at depression, they looked at obesity or overweight, and they looked at sleep. And some of the key findings saw that smartphone ownership at 13, when a kid got a phone at 13 and had it at, 14, just in that one year, it impacted sleep, they got insufficient sleep, but it was not linked to depression or obesity in that one year. So that was encouraging. They also found that one of the key findings of this particular study was the intensity of smartphone usage was key. It wasn't just how much they used it, but how they used it, how intensely they used it. So two to five hours a day said, yeah, this is probably going to interfere with your sleep more than five hours a day. Yes, it is definitely going to interfere with your sleep, but also increase the risk for depression and obesity. So intensity is how much they're using it in a day. And one of the sleep protection factors found this study found what I've been saying for a really long time is that placing a smartphone outside the bedroom at bedtime, not having it accessible within arm's reach or in your bedroom, it was associated with reduced risk.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Risk.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Now this is like, okay, this is not rocket science. My husband's a rocket science. So scientist. So that's a joke in our house. But this is not rocket sciences. This is not rocket science here. We know that putting a phone outside your bedroom is going to help you sleep better. And yet most of us still don't do it. We're like, yeah, maybe our kids, but, but emergency, but this, but that. There are ways around this. And so, but the bottom line for this study is it's not the smartphone that matters, it's how long and how close it is to our sleep. So it reframes our con from should my child have a phone? To how should my child use a phone when they get it, for what purpose are they using it and how is it impacting their body and brain now what we're learning from research is that often when a kid gets a phone, sleep is the first casualty. And, and earlier in the summer I reviewed Toy Story 5 which talks about the impact of technology. And that was something that was on full display. You saw that Bonnie, the little girl in the movie, her sleep was one of the first things to go. She woke up earlier, reached for the device that was on her bedside table and she reached for it at night. She had it at night until the last thing, until it was about to power down, she goes to sleep. And we know that sleep insufficiency is strongly linked to mood instability. So we have parents complaining about their teenagers mood in teenage and the teen years. We know that sleep is one of the first and primary interventions for that, but we don't do it. And we also know that not sleeping well, well it makes attention problems and it makes school problems and it makes kids more emotionally reactive. And frankly it makes adults that too. Smartphones near bedtime directly interfere with melatonin production. That blue light inhibits melatonin in our brain. And so instead of putting the device away, we just reach for a melatonin supplement. And that is not something that we should take lightly. By the way. You should never take supplements without talking with your primary care provider, even over the counter or things that are branded, as non prescription. But it also impacts when, how long it takes for us to go to sleep and how well we sleep. So a phone in a kid's hand is not neutral. It is a stimulation device. It is a reward loop system. It is a tool that's meant to capture their attention, attention and that impacts sleep. So more than five hours a day. Again, that's sad to say. Five hours a day has increased risk, but that bedroom access is a major risk amplifier. So that is important because it extends screen time into sleep hours. It increases late night checking. I can't tell you how many times I've been in an exam room where I'll ask kids, do you have your phone in your room? Where do you keep your phone at night? And they'll tell me, in my bedroom. But I don't check it. That's usually what happens. They say that. It's like I, I think about, you know, police officers who tell me, people say, oh, I had two drinks, two drinks. That's what I feel with teenagers who say, but I don't check it. And I'll say, you know what, what? Open it last night. Let, let's see the notifications. And they'll see you know what, I'm checking it. I'm not lying about it. it's just become so ingrained and so natural, I didn't even realize I'm checking it in the middle of the night. And that is really important. Especially those earlier teenage years, age 13 to 14, that is a critical stage where kids are learning how to emotionally regulate. We wonder how we have adults who don't know how to emotionally regulate. Well, some of it may be because they were influenced by growing up on smartphones. We also 13 to 14 is a critical time for identity formation and it also is where your circadian rhythm is stabilized. And if we have trained it from the very beginning to be dysfunctional, we're not setting ourselves up for success. And that is important. Sleep is one of the most basic things and I talked on one of the Fridays and rhythms about bedtime routine and sleep hygiene. So we've got to shift the goal from access to structure. It's not just does my child have a phone? It's what structure is surrounding their phone use. Are you protecting sleep as a non negotiable health boundary? Maybe that's no phone use one hour before bed. That's the minimum professional recommendations for most kids. Are you having a consistent bedtime routine? Are you treating sleep like this is the time I'm restoring my body and my brain, it's not time to numb it out. Are you keeping phones out of your bedrooms at night? Can you charge them in the kitchen or a hallway or a parking spot? That is one of the most evidence supported interventions in this study and in many other studies. But we still don't do it. But we need to do that and set some daily usage guardrails. Pay attention to that total screen time and look for how much time are we spending a day on those specific plans, platforms and start adopting some of these habits. We've been talking about tech free zones, tech free times, tech sabbaths, tech tracking so that you can be intentional about it.

Teach your teens that sleep is sacred. Sleep should be protected

But more than, more than just eliminating nighttime scrolling, we gotta replace it with that wind down rhythm with that, that bedtime, routine, whether that's reading or praying or having some calm conversation or some music. You can use music in your home. I talked all about that. Get in sleep, go back and listen to it. But really teach your teens that sleep is sacred. Sleep is really important. Sleep should be protected. Your brain does not develop or function well on exhaustion. And then turn around and tell that to yourself and know that sleep is connected to your mood and your physical health and your Emotional control. So this study makes one thing very clear. It's not simply smartphones ownership that is driving risk, it's how we use it, especially at night. So have that boundary that's really important.

We are increasingly relying on screens to manage kids emotions, boredom and behavior

Another way that we're intentionally using smartphones or digital ecosystems, and maybe not for the better, is about digital babysitting or digital soothing. I've been talking about this a lot and I saw headlines and studies about this this week and, and you, you can relate, you know. Yeah, you've seen it in public or you've experienced yourself. There's a parent in public, public with a screaming toddler. I saw this not too long ago, in a public place where we are crowded waiting for a train and, and this kid is having a major meltdown in the stroller. I mean just absolutely screaming. Everybody's watching, the parents are sweating. It's just such a miserable moment. And they just cannot get the phone out fast enough to put the movie on. And as soon as the little credits come through, the kid is just squealing and just starts to calm down and the parents breathe a sigh of relief. And you think, okay, we did it. But this is not the way, friends. I'm gonna say that as gently as possible because I know I tend to do it myself, I struggle with doing this, but we have got to go away from that. I know it works immediately, but we somehow feel bad about it. We feel internally convicted, internally convicted rather than relieved. And so that really is a moment for reflection. Like we are increasingly relying on screen to manage kids emotions, their boredom, their behavior. And the screen is functioning as a digital babysitter in everyday life. Now we didn't intentionally plan to do this. It's just a default coping mechanism in a world that is over stimulating and over exhausting. And we see this in grocery stores and restaurants and traveling and waiting rooms and anything busy schedule. And so it's really not the screens themselves. It's the deeper cultural, relational, spiritual shift that's happening. And we're just being kind of passive about it. As adults in the room, we look at kids being interruptions. We ah, look at having no tolerance for kids who are having a meltdown on a flight. Now as adults, here's the thing. Maybe we don't have a meltdown on a flight flight or maybe we do. We see a lot of those more on social media, but you hold it in till you get home and then as soon as you walk in the door, emotional explosion. And your family's gonna get the worst of that. So we gotta make sure we're not judging kids as much as we're judging ourselves. We see this parental exhaustion over scheduling, avoiding boredom, and just that is, that's hard. So screens can solve behavior in the moment, but it shapes dependence on it over time. Now this is important because we're using screens as emotional regulators instead of relationship formers, instead of parents. Children learn that if I feel distressed, the screen provides relief. If I'm bored, the screen will provide stimulation. If I'm uncomfortable, the screen can be a digital escape. And that is reducing our opportunities as families to develop patience, emotional regulation, tolerance for being frustrated and how to self soothe. And we're just tired. That's the honest truth. As parents, as grandparents, we are just tired. And so we do use screens more. We're over scheduled, we're exhausted. There's pressure for constant productivity. We always feel like we have to be giving kids the next greatest experience. And screen is the fastest path to peace, even if it's only temporary. And that means as a society, we're valuing convenience over formation. And children are increasingly entertained instead of engaged. We're distracting them instead of intentionally discipling them and pacifying them instead of actively parenting them. Those are convicting m things I know, but it does relate long term concerns about how are we raising this generation? Raising this is discipleship. Screen habits are not neutral. They are forming our desires, they are shaping our attention, they are drawing our affection. And that is important. Now what can we do about it? Well, we can feel guilty, we can be exhausted from resisting it. We can just live in that tension between convenience and conviction. Or we can shift our mindset instead of thinking, okay, how do I stop this behavior quickly? How do I stop this emotion? What is it that my child's learning in this moment? How do I need to shape this learning moment? Right now we need to replace default screen use with an intentional pause. Build that pause like, okay, we're going to have conversation, we're going to name emotion. We're going to seek some healthy coping mechanisms. You're frustrated, I get that. Let's go for a walk here. Let's count, let's breathe together. That is important. And we can try as much as we can to reduce over scheduling. We gotta protect that unstructured time at home. Don't fill every gap with something. Let kids know how to emotionally regulate connect before you correct and align that screen use with intentional boundaries. Just this is where screens are acceptable. This is where the they aren't. I'm praying for you. As we seek to rebuild spiritual and relational rhythms that were disrupted by technology. And the real question is not whether screens calm kids in the moment, because they do. They do work. That's why we do it. It's, what kind of children are we forming when screens become our default? And I encourage you to think about ways you can make a tech Sabbath and relationally reset as you do. I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. I'll see you right back here on Monday.

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Jeff Chamblee: the views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

It’s Ask Dr. Nurse Mama Friday! Jessica introduces this week’s healthy habit of having a tech sabbath as well as Homefront Headlines.

Chapters:

(00:00) American Family Radio thanks sponsor, Preborn for supporting pro life advocacy

(00:43) This week we talk about having a tech Sabbath

(01:52) In this world where technology is always on, we need a rest from tech

(07:49) Sabbath helps protect you against burnout by honoring God's design for rhythm

(15:26) This year so far, Your partnership with Preborn has saved 50,000 babies and moms from abortion

(18:27) A Tech Sabbath is a planned pause from that digital scrolling

(25:35) Think about protecting the most relational hours of your day

(29:32) A Tech Sabbath is not about rejecting technology, it's about reclaiming it

(33:53) The war against biblical principles rages on numerous fronts

(37:02) Smartphones near bedtime directly interfere with melatonin production, study finds

(44:12) Teach your teens that sleep is sacred. Sleep should be protected

(45:04) We are increasingly relying on screens to manage kids emotions, boredom and behavior

(51:01) Preborn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion

Sponsors:

https://preborn.com