Doug Smith's Blog, page 5

Back To School: Not Back To Porn

For many families, back to school means back to screens. As more schools foolishly embrace the marketing of ed-tech companies, our kids are more enmeshed in screen time during the school day. But giving kids screens in school isn’t improving their ability to think and learn. And worse, every screen is an opportunity to expose ...

Doctor Reveals The Real Reason Kids Are Addicted To Screens

(~ 2,000 words, 10 minute read) If you knew your kids were the targets of a predatory industry, what would you do to protect them? Anything, right? What if it’s the technology industry? I can hear the protests. “It’s not just my kids — all kids are on screens all the time! Don’t make me ...

The Struggle With Screen Time Is Real [Guest Post]

Misty Phillip, author of The Struggle Is Real, But So Is God, invited me to write about the struggle with technology on her blog, By His Grace. I found her book title a great springboard, since it so nicely captures both the reality of our battles with technology, and the real power of the solution ...

Your Wife Told Me About Your Video Games

Hey Man … Your wife came up to me before I spoke at a recent convention and told me about your video game addiction. Your wife. Told me. I thought you’d want to know. If I were you, I’d want to know that my strong, beautiful, brilliant wife was hurting. That she felt alone with ...

My Child is Looking at Porn. What Should I Do?

A reader of my new book recently told me that he discovered his son had been looking at porn. This dad asked for my advice. I’ll sharing an edited version of that advice with you below. But first, according to Covenant Eyes, 90% of boys and 60% of girls will have seen porn by the ...

Do you ever say: “But I don’t have time”?

Does this ever come out of your mouth? “I wish I could do [some good thing I should be doing], but I just don’t have time.” If you’re spending more than four hours a week watching something on a screen, I can help you. And since the average person spends around 32 hours a week ...

Will We Surrender Our Free Will to Screens? [Guest Post]

If “the machines” ever do take over, it will be because we have stopped thinking, not because they have started to.

Did you miss Christmas?

On Christmas Eve, my wife and youngest daughter attended an elegant candlelight communion service. Another one of our daughters and her husband were part of the beautiful music ensemble: daughter in the choir, son-in-law co-leading with acoustic guitar. Traditional carols were sung by all, along with short pastoral messages about the meanings of each. At ...

10 Screen-Free Christmas Gift Ideas For Your Child

I know. Your child wants a new phone or tablet or video game for Christmas sooooooo badly. And the sales are irresistible. And all their friends have one, or are getting one, too. How happy they’ll be when they see that shiny new device under the tree! But, oh, how unhappy you’ll all be after ...

Feel Like A Civil War Is Coming? You’re Supposed To.

Do you feel like the world is going crazy? You’re supposed to feel that way. News corporations make gazillions exploiting our fears and making us angry. They make their videos dramatic and attractive so we will keep watching and scrolling and clicking. The “news” about a coming civil war is a tragic example. The media ...