Dr. Laura Markham

Digital Apprenticeship: Raising Kids Who Can Navigate AI Safely

Length: 44:03

Dr. Laura Markham is the author of several books, including Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids and Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings. Dr. Laura earned her PhD in clinical psychology at Columbia University and has worked as a parenting coach with countless families around the
world. Dr. Laura’s aspiration is to change the world, one child at a time, by supporting parents.

Summary:
Dr. Laura Markham offers a warm but eye-opening look at how AI and screens are woven into even the youngest children’s lives: from when babies are handed screens to self-soothe to the “AI toys” that quietly collect your child’s data. She introduces the powerful concept of “digital apprenticeship”, showing parents how to actively guide kids through AI and screens rather than just restricting or ignoring them, and shares a sobering real-world example about what young boys are often asking chatbots. This conversation will leave you with concrete, compassionate tools for staying your child’s most trusted person, rather than kids going to an AI chat bot that may seem easier to talk to.

Links:

Family Tech Reset

Dr. Christopher Willard

College Mental Health and AI: Talking to Young People, Asking Questions, Encouraging Self-Reflection

Length: 40:27

Dr. Christopher Willard is a psychologist and educational consultant specializing in mindfulness. He has been practicing meditation for 20 years and leads workshops nationally and internationally. He has presented at TEDx conferences, and his thoughts have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, mindful.org, and elsewhere. He is the author of several books including College Mental Health 101, Growing Up Mindful, Raising Resilience, and several children’s books. He teaches at Harvard Medical School.

Summary:
Dr. Christopher Willard talks about how AI is reshaping teen and college-age mental health — from the genuine benefits of destigmatizing struggles to the real risk of AI becoming a substitute for messy, human relationships. He shares practical, non-preachy ways to talk with kids about chatbots, plus how to prevent a diagnosis from becoming an identity. Parents will especially appreciate his candid stories about his own family and clients, and his emphasis on modeling healthy tech use out loud rather than just lecturing about it.

Links:

Website

College Mental Health 101

Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart

The Difference Between Attachment, Avoidance, Coping and Creativity

Length: 36:42

Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart is a pediatric psychologist, parent coach, author, national speaker, and MS NOW contributor and host of The Parenting Shift. She’s the founder of A New Day Pediatric Psychology and the author of Love the Teen You Have and Raising Teens Who Talk to You. Her work helps parents understand what’s really going on beneath their kids’ and teens’ behavior and make the shifts that lead to more connection, less conflict, and healthier relationships.

Summary:
Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart doesn’t just talk about the risks of AI; she brings real stories from her therapy practice and her own family. She talks about what your kids actually lose when a chatbot becomes their go-to for feelings and relationships, and why that “frictionless” comfort can quietly get in the way of real growth. But this isn’t a doom-and-gloom conversation. Dr. Lockhart also shares how her own teenagers use AI in ways that connect rather than isolate, and gives parents a simple, doable way to stay in the loop no matter their kid’s age.

Links:

Website

Phone/internet contract for a teen and parent
A starting point for a conversation around online and social media use.

Dr. Aliza Pressman

5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans

Length: 38:17

Dr. Aliza Pressman is a developmental psychologist with two decades of experience. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling book The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans, and the host of the award-winning Raising Good Humans podcast. Aliza has been featured in The Today Show, CBS News, Parents, the Drew Barrymore Show, and more.

Summary:
Dr. Aliza Pressman talks about her 5 principles of “ordinary magic” in the context of an AI age. She makes the case that the everyday, imperfect moments of parenting–the repair after a mistake, the friction of a hard conversation–are exactly what AI can’t replicate and are what actually build resilience in kids. She offers practical advice, including how to talk to your kid about their chatbot use without judgment, and why AI-enabled toys might rob kids of the boredom and distress they need to grow. We discuss why kids can’t learn empathy from AI, (even if it is good at mimicking empathy).

Links

Substack

Dr. Linda Charmaraman

Research on Adolescent AI Use: Learning, Self-Esteem, Safety, and Belonging

Length: 44:03

Dr. Linda Charmaraman is a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Education from UC Berkeley and is director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, which she founded in 2018. Dr. Charmaraman co-authored the American Psychological Association’s 2023 advisory on adolescent social media use; she advises the Google Kids and Families team, Common Sense Media, and others, and she provided testimony for the U.S. Senate Committee on Protecting Our Children Online. She also co-organizes digital wellbeing workshops for middle school girls from underserved backgrounds in the U.S. and beyond.

Summary:
Dr. Linda Charmaraman says that experiencing technology with your children is one of the best things you can do to understand what they’re doing, their mindset, and their relationship with computers, phones, internet, games, and AI. Linda walks us through a couple of different conversations that we can have with our young people about AI. Teens need to know that: 1. Becoming an expert in something takes hours. AI isn’t a quick fix for that kind of learning. 2. AI might feed you information that the “typical user” is looking for, but if you’re not a typical user–because you’re a 13-year-old neurodivergent kid–you might find something that may not be appropriate. In her research, middle school students tried to create a chatbot to help young people with their self-esteem. The results were fascinating. Also in the research is some evidence of the productive uses of AI and social media: raising awareness of issues that young people care about and finding groups that give youth a sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose.

Links:

Website

Instagram

Erin Loechner

The Opt-Out Family: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can’t

Length: 37:12

Founder of the global tech-free movement The Opt-Out Family, Erin Loechner is a former social media influencer who walked away from a million fans to live a low-tech lifestyle—and is now teaching others how to do the same. Her cutting-edge work has been praised in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Huffington Post, as well as on the Today Show. When she’s not scrawling on her trusty steno pad, Erin, her husband, and their three kids spend their days chasing alpenglow, reading Kipling, and biking to town for more tortillas.

Summary:
In this interview, you’ll hear about a family who is demonstrating what it looks like to opt out. Erin Loechner walks us through what it looks like for her family to live a low-tech, tech-free lifestyle. She talks about when she realized that AI “isn’t just a tool” and that “tech isn’t neutral”. She’ll challenge you to ask “what’s another way?” before defaulting to the easy tech solution, whether that’s for a school waiver or an app to sign your child up for soccer. And if you’ve ever worried your kid will be “the only one without a phone,” her advice is useful. Talking to Erin was inspiring; even if you aren’t able to completely opt out, it is helpful to see someone who is questioning the necessity of all the tech in our lives and using community connection as part of the solution.

Links:

Free downloads/resources