Episode Details

Two major studies landed this week on what screens are doing to kids — one tying smartphone ownership at 12 to eating disorder symptoms at 14, the other pooling data on 2.8 million children across 64 countries and finding lower grades, weaker language, and more anxiety across the board. Every parent listening already feels it. Almost none of us know what to actually do about it.

So Jesse sat down with his friend Will Stackable — co-founder and CMO of ArborXR, a VR company serving more than eighty Fortune 500s — who has spent ten years building the future and lives in a farmhouse outside Fort Collins with four kids under ten, no TV, no screens, and no Wi-Fi. This is his story honestly told: the moment on the floor with his son that started it, the year he threw out his smartphone entirely, why willpower was never enough, the firewalls he built instead, and what it gave his family. Then the part most people need — the version of this for a normal household that isn't about to rip out the router. How to talk to a kid about it. What to do this week. And what happens when they're teenagers and every friend has a phone.

PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS

- Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 40 years of progress, and the free tool to know your own risk

- A 2,700-child study finds warm, consistent parenting beats everything else — and inconsistent discipline hurts most

- Creatine built muscle in adults 45 to 65 even without exercise in a new 12-week trial

- Smartphone ownership at 12 linked to a 67% higher risk of binge-eating symptoms by 14

- An umbrella review of 2.8 million kids finds screen time tied to lower grades and more anxiety

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Cold Open & Intro

1:27 - The Weekly Health Brief

1:38 - Breast Cancer Awareness Month

3:16 - Warm and Consistent: The Parenting Study

5:03 - Creatine Builds Muscle Without Exercise

7:58 - The Phone at 12

10:01 - 2.8 Million Kids: The Screen Review

11:28 - Will Stackable Joins

13:40 - Reading the Post: "Dad, Why Don't We Have Wi-Fi?"

17:34 - Why He Finally Wrote It

18:17 - A 90s Kid, Then a Phone at 16

20:42 - The Moment on the Floor With His Son

22:21 - A Year With No Smartphone

24:19 - Whack-a-Mole: Apps and Infinity Pools

27:25 - Solitude Deprivation

30:50 - Driving Back in Time

32:25 - Atoms Over Electrons

35:42 - Why Kids Need to Be Bored

39:03 - The Adjustment, and the Projector

43:24 - When Their Friends All Have Phones

48:36 - Caught, Not Taught

49:53 - From Avoidance to Love

52:08 - The Playbook for a Normal Family

57:27 - Outro

ABOUT WILL STACKABLE:

Co-founder and CMO of ArborXR, which manages VR and AR devices for more than eighty Fortune 500 companies. Previously sold SpringboardVR and Scissortail Media. Lives outside Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife and four kids.

Read the post that started this: linkedin.com/in/willstackable

If the eating disorder segment hit home, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders has a free helpline at allianceforeatingdisorders.com.

SPONSORS

- Get nutritional supplements that work as hard as you do: https://www.puristnutrition.com/#strongerweekly

- Build a world-class home gym with Rep Fitness: https://www.repfitness.com/#strongerweekly

- Bulletproof your drinking with Clutch; medication-assisted treatment from Oar Health: