The Culture Study Podcast
Culture Study Podcast
Why Other People's Screen Time Annoys You
0:00
-1:23:49

Why Other People's Screen Time Annoys You

And rethinking how we talk about it

Maybe your mom endlessly scrolls Facebook every time you visit. Maybe your kid has to be asked six times to get off his tablet. Maybe your friend is always checking Instagram when you’re out to dinner. Maybe your partner keeps checking their phone while you’re watching a movie together. Or maybe you find yourself doing all the things you find SO ANNOYING when others do them — and know these behaviors are affecting your relationships, but struggle to change them. Are you one of the 510234 moms who submitted a question about feeling guilty being on your phone (even if you’re just reading an eBook!) in front of your kids? Welp, this is the podcast for you.

This isn’t a podcast episode about how ALL SCREENS ARE BAD and YOU ARE BAD FOR ENGAGING WITH THEM. It’s about recasting our relationships with them so that we can have better relationships with each other (which sometimes involves watching a screen… together!) Ash Brandin, founder of the tremendously popular Instagram account The Gamer Educator and author of Power On: Managing Screen Time To Benefit The Whole Family, joins me for a nuanced and deeply empathetic conversation that I know we’ll continue in the comments.


Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

  • Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics

  • Try a Blissy silk pillowcase for 60 nights, risk-free, and get an additional 30% off when you shop at Blissy.com/CULTUREPOD and use code CULTUREPOD at checkout

  • Visit Article.com/CULTURE to get $50 off your first order of $100 or more

  • Try Remi risk-free at shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE to get up to 50% off your nightguard at checkout


Listeners, we are firmly on the path to sustainability — and your subscriptions made this possible! (We no longer have to ask for subscriptions to pay Melody for the next month). This show is only possible because of people like you, and we are so grateful.

If you’re not already a subscriber and want access to each week’s FULL EPISODE including the Ask Anne Anything, come join us! (And remember that if you’re already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal, but you have to click there to use it; it is *not* applied automatically).

***And if you’d like to add the subscriber-only podcast to your podcast app, here’s how.***


Show Notes:

Culture Study
gaming, in kids' own words
This is the free, Sunday edition of Culture Study — the newsletter from Anne Helen Petersen, which you can read about here. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing…
Read more

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

  • Running a Small Business — and How to Make It Sustainable & Survivable (with Jen Hewett!)

  • All things Love is Blind with Audie Cornish

  • Different Modalities of Hanging Out (aka, best ways to hang out with different people) with Mary HK Choi

  • The history/utility/culture of OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE GEAR with Avery Trufelman (of Articles of Interest)

  • What an actually family-friendly society would look like (with Elliot Haspel)

  • An ADULT HOBBIES crossover episode with Forever35!

  • The sociology of NAMES

  • Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

  • As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here


For this week’s discussion: How have screens been affecting your relationships with your friends or family members — and what would you like to shift?