We live in a digital age, and at some point, our children will have access to phones, but it is our responsibility as parents to balance the benefits and risks of phone use. I welcome Bill Brady, who is the CEO and Co-founder of Troomi Wireless, a mobile phone platform designed to improve kids’ mental health through a safe and balanced relationship with technology.

We discuss:

• The benefits and risks of allowing our child to have a phone for use
• Is there a magical age at which they should be allowed a phone?
• How to create healthy boundaries with access to a phone and safety and other activities

00:00:01:01 – 00:00:19:29
Bill Brady
All kids are going to use technology as adults. The jobs they may have as teenagers will require them to use technology. So as parents now, we have this added responsibility of helping them to use technology with discipline in responsibly.

00:00:20:02 – 00:00:50:18
Dr. Mona
Welcome back to the show. This podcast is growing because of you and your reviews, so keep leaving those reviews, sharing them with people that you love, updating your reviews and sharing the show. To anyone who’s wants to know more about child health, development and parenting. Today I welcome Bill Brady, who is co-founder and CEO of Truly Wireless, which is a mobile phone platform designed to improve kid’s mental health through a safe and balanced relationship with technology.

00:00:50:19 – 00:01:01:22
Dr. Mona
And this is something really important in this day and age. We are talking about balancing the benefits and concerns of kids and phones. Thank you so much for joining me today. Bill.

00:01:01:24 – 00:01:04:18
Bill Brady
Oh thank you, doctor Mona. Great to be with you.

00:01:04:20 – 00:01:12:00
Dr. Mona
Yeah. And so tell us more about yourself and what brought you to found Toomey Wireless?

00:01:12:02 – 00:01:40:24
Bill Brady
Well, first and foremost, I’d say the most important job I have is I’m a dad to five kids. So, like, you know, all of your listeners, I’m in the thick of dealing, with all of these questions and issues around kids and technology just like they are. And, our oldest is 19 years old. So she’s on the entering adulthood phase, but we still have a seven year old and then a bunch of kids in between.

00:01:40:26 – 00:02:13:21
Bill Brady
So my wife and I, we’ve been married 23 years, and, I think we’ve always been pretty sensitive or cautious or just aware about technology and we’ve tried to be pretty intentional about what we allowed into our house and what we didn’t, and what was the right time frame for introducing technology to kids and, through my career as a marketer, I spent two decades owning marketing agencies, but got to a point where this was a problem that needed to be tackled.

00:02:13:28 – 00:02:21:03
Bill Brady
And, and I got into this space of kids safe technology about five years ago.

00:02:21:05 – 00:02:27:27
Dr. Mona
Oh, I love it. And so that was what brought you to find true wireless. And so what is true wireless exactly?

00:02:27:29 – 00:02:56:21
Bill Brady
So at its core, we’re we’re a phone and an operating system. It’s it’s really designed to help parents introduce technology to their kids in an age appropriate way. So there are the obvious things. And we’ll talk more about these in in our time together today. But they’re the obvious problems that every parent’s trying to solve for. They know that they want the the convenience of giving their kid a phone, but they’re worried about inappropriate content.

00:02:56:22 – 00:03:13:01
Bill Brady
They’re worried about violence. They’re worried about predators, and they’re worried about social media. So truly provides a platform where parents can give their kids a phone without any of that stuff. Give them what they need without all the garbage that they don’t need.

00:03:13:04 – 00:03:35:03
Dr. Mona
Oh, I love that. And, you know, you talk about the research that you’ve done in marketing, but also being a parent of five. So from the research in this field of technology, mental health, as well as your experience being, parent to five children, what do you see the benefits of having a phone and what would be some concerns, you see, with a child having access to a phone?

00:03:35:06 – 00:03:59:14
Bill Brady
I know the benefits side. I think that the first benefit is selfish for parents, right? It’s the convenience of being able to reach our kids. You know, when I was a kid, we didn’t have phones, right? And somehow we all survived. And everything. Everything was fine. But, you know, we’ve kind of got a culture now where there’s this highest sensitivity for parents of.

00:03:59:21 – 00:04:16:21
Bill Brady
I want to know where my kids are at. I want to be able to see on a map where they are and know that they’re okay. If anything were to go wrong or they had a problem or even just a scheduling snafu. I want them to be able to reach me, or I need to be able to reach them.

00:04:16:21 – 00:04:38:15
Bill Brady
And that’s that’s really, really a convenient thing. But there’s there’s safety. There are safety issues there as well. We had a daughter, for example, who was she performs in a choir, and they rehearse in a city that, you know, about 45 minutes away from us. And she got out of, a rehearsal or a performance one night.

00:04:38:18 – 00:04:59:27
Bill Brady
And the family that she was carpooling with forgot that she was carpooling with them. And here she was, it was dark. She was in a big city. Yeah. She was terrified. And this is, she didn’t have a phone and wasn’t yet quite comfortable going up to someone and saying, hey, I’m sorry, I can I use your phone for a second?

00:05:00:00 – 00:05:23:07
Bill Brady
And thank goodness, you know, there was another family that just kind of observed what was going on and realized, I think Ainsley needs help and, you know, and they were able to get her and give her a ride home. But like just little examples like that can turn into big things. And that that connectivity is, it’s become very important.

00:05:23:10 – 00:05:49:27
Bill Brady
If you think of benefits, I think there are a ton of learning and preparation for the future style benefits. All kids are going to use technology as adults. The jobs they may have as teenagers will require them to use technology. So as parents now we have this added responsibility of helping them to use technology with discipline and responsibly.

00:05:49:29 – 00:06:20:03
Bill Brady
So we have this need to help them advance into the additional levels of of responsibility as their needs warrant and as their their maturity warrants. That was one of our goals in creating truly was to provide parents with that platform where they can gradually introduce kids and and help them prepare for the future. Part of that preparation for the future comes from learning, I think, is some of the the awesome learning experiences my kids have had not too long ago.

00:06:20:03 – 00:06:48:03
Bill Brady
They participated in a tour of Jamestown with a docent. Jamestown. It was like they were there in person. Wow. Technology enabled that. I think of the connection they have to distant family members. I’m. I’m originally from Canada, and, my kids were able to talk to their grandparents, you know, through technology, because otherwise they only saw them once a year, sometimes once every two years.

00:06:48:03 – 00:07:15:28
Bill Brady
So it was technology really enabled those relationships. So there’s a lot of upside. But like you said, we have to be concerned about the risks as well. And I categorize those into two different types of risk. There’s the obvious ones. Every parent in America would agree that they don’t want their kids consuming pornography or other inappropriate content. They want to keep their kids away from bullies.

00:07:16:00 – 00:07:59:00
Bill Brady
And bullying happens now. 24 over seven you think of what social media does to take the schoolyard bully and all of a sudden that individuals reach is thousands of people, and it never turns off. All right. And so there’s a risk there. And, and then predators, it’s absolutely disgusting. You know, you think of some of the research shows 500,000 active online child predators right now, and they’re using seemingly innocuous means of reaching kids and grooming them into some, you know, terrible, terrible, dangerous situations.

00:07:59:03 – 00:08:33:03
Bill Brady
So those are the obvious things, you know? So at its core, we say, let’s create an environment where kids are safe from those things, but the less obvious risks are just as important. And a lot of those stemmed from social media and the stress anxiety and depression that we’re now seeing spiking in our young people. And so much of that ties back to, you know, social media screen time in general, getting less sleep because of screens.

00:08:33:05 – 00:08:46:18
Bill Brady
And and we’re seeing an epidemic. It’s an absolute youth mental health care crisis. And, so those are some of the other things that we seek to address as, through the way we’ve structured that offering.

00:08:46:21 – 00:09:02:06
Dr. Mona
Oh, absolutely. I mean, you’re bringing up hard hitting things that are realities in this day and age. And, you know, you went back into like how it seems like a simpler time when we were children. I agree that not having access even as an adult, you know, I use my platform social. Why? Because I, my platform is big on social media.

00:09:02:08 – 00:09:24:15
Dr. Mona
It’s a blessing and a curse. I hate it, but I also love it because it allows me to connect and reach people. But it also is in itself riddled with a lot of issues that can impact mental health, not even just for adult, but you think about for the developing teenage mind, like you said. And like you said, there was that situation with your daughter when she was at, waiting for a ride and or the ride, left without her.

00:09:24:18 – 00:09:41:09
Dr. Mona
I mean, I remember being a child and had I vividly remember some moments where my mom was late to pick us up and there was no way for her to communicate because there was no cell phones. Right? So we waited on the corner of the school street for an hour or two hours, and we just kept counting. The cars go by and we spotted me.

00:09:41:09 – 00:09:56:02
Dr. Mona
My sister were crying and wondering what happened to her mother. Like, does something happen to her? Why was she late? So like, I, you know, she comes down, she’s like she was running late in traffic, but there was just no way for her to communicate. And, you know, she could have called the school, but the school was close.

00:09:56:08 – 00:10:18:17
Dr. Mona
So there’s, you know, you’re like you said, there is a benefit of having access. There is obviously, to me a risk. And, you know, I love that y’all as a team are looking at ways to have the access to a phone grow with the child’s age. Right. Like meaning maybe there’s different features that are there. So initially, just as for initiating calls or initiating messages, and then it becomes more access to more features of the phone.

00:10:18:19 – 00:10:46:04
Dr. Mona
But, that’s kind of how I envisioned cell phone introduction to my child when it actually happens. But you’re right. The the worries are great there. You know, all the things that you mentioned. For me as a pediatrician, I very much see on a regular basis the depression aspect that you mentioned, the anxiety aspect that social media can cause and especially now in 2023, 24, you know, I’m recording this at the end of 2023, but it’s going to go live in 2024.

00:10:46:06 – 00:11:11:09
Dr. Mona
I like, AI technology is really scary to me because I look at that and they’re creating images and videos that even I see and I know is fake, because I can recognize that this is fake. But you look at the comments and people don’t realize it. So now we have young, impressionable minds looking at AI technology, whether it’s another female or a male, and they’re like, wow, this person looks so beautiful or looks like this, why don’t I look like this?

00:11:11:09 – 00:11:36:14
Dr. Mona
So the depression is there, the anxiety, but also the plummeting self-esteem. You know, that we see and I have so many teenagers coming in that are feeling bad about themselves because of what they’ve seen on social, whether it’s the bullying, whether it’s, someone has a lot more followers, whether it’s someone looks so beautiful because of filters or a gentleman is much more muscular or big because of AI technology.

00:11:36:14 – 00:11:56:04
Dr. Mona
And, it’s really scary. Like you said, because back in the day, people existed, you know, there was bullies. You were right. It was very tough. But it didn’t follow you home. You went home and it was home and it was a safe place. But now you get on your computer or your iPhone or your cell phone and it’s it is a stereo world.

00:11:56:06 – 00:12:17:26
Dr. Mona
Now let’s take a break to hear from our sponsors. I know this conversation can be uncomfortable for a lot of our listeners, because people don’t want to add more anxiety in our life like, oh my God, I need to be worried. But I think it is a healthy conversation on, hey, we can provide these luxuries to our children, but at the same time respecting the things out there.

00:12:17:26 – 00:12:27:11
Dr. Mona
And, that’s why I’m glad that you are on this episode, but also that you created me to kind of combat that, to find that bridge in that balance for everybody.

00:12:27:13 – 00:12:59:11
Bill Brady
You know? Thank you. You know, what are the things you just called out, I don’t think can be overstated. And that’s the effect of social media on self-esteem and confidence in the struggles real for adults, too. It’s not just a kid thing, but kids, especially because of their developing brains, especially susceptible to getting into this rut of constantly looking at what everyone else has, what everyone else is doing, how everyone else looks, where everyone else is going on vacation.

00:12:59:13 – 00:13:27:06
Bill Brady
And of course, they’re just seeing the curated version of everyone’s lives. But it’s really easy to get into that mode of I don’t have enough, I’m not enough, I’m not getting enough, I’m not strong enough. Whatever those things are. And in that constant comparison robs us of gratitude. First of all, you know, if you spend your life comparing yourself to other people, all of a sudden gratitude goes out the window.

00:13:27:13 – 00:13:54:18
Bill Brady
Yeah. And I think, you know, gratitude and the recognition of what we do have is fundamental to real happiness. And the statistics show it. In fact, there’s, the Pew Research Center did a study with teenagers, and 73% of teenagers recognize, they said in the survey that they believe social media harms their mental health. 73% of the kids themselves.

00:13:54:26 – 00:13:55:03
Dr. Mona
I.

00:13:55:03 – 00:14:08:25
Bill Brady
Know, are recognizing that. Yeah. Once you get into that habit and the dopamine hit coming from. Yes it’s hard to it’s hard to say I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s really hard to step away from it.

00:14:08:28 – 00:14:38:07
Dr. Mona
Listen, this is and you said it perfectly. It’s not just for children. I mean, I am a content creator, and I. I’ve become this, like, role that anytime I see an up and coming content creator that, like, I really love and they’re growing like they they go viral, right? I immediately send them a message and I say, I’m so proud of you for going viral, but I need you to watch for mental health, because with becoming viral comes the mental health hit, the dopamine hit, the desire for more, the people pleasing, the fact that you are going to get a lot more negativity when you go viral.

00:14:38:07 – 00:14:58:11
Dr. Mona
I’ve been there and I know that impact it has on me as it I’m, you know, I’m a 38 year old at the time of this reporting and I even get sad. I even get depressed. Now we think about the children that, like you said, that they’re developing brain and not even just the developing brain. We know that teenagers because of where their cognition is, they rely heavily on what other people think.

00:14:58:17 – 00:15:25:06
Dr. Mona
Even if we want to tell them, don’t think or don’t care, don’t care about what your friend says their way, their brain develops because of just human evolution and how we evolve as, adults and human beings. They care and we can say all we want not to care, but they’re going to care. And so when you add that sort of developing brain that that desire for what is everyone else doing and how come I’m not good enough and you set them up for failure in terms of this?

00:15:25:06 – 00:15:42:13
Dr. Mona
You know, not being mindful. And social media is not the mindful spot that I want people to be. And it’s like the antithesis of being mindful everything about it. And it’s like that dopamine hit of the quick video form, you know, like the fact that now with TikTok, everything’s getting shorter. We can’t even like long form video.

00:15:42:13 – 00:15:47:25
Dr. Mona
People are getting bored because it’s not fast enough for their dopamine hit. It’s kind of scary, you know?

00:15:47:28 – 00:15:48:29
Bill Brady
It really is.

00:15:49:01 – 00:16:09:28
Dr. Mona
And so I love this. I know we are going on a huge tangent about social media because it is a passion of mine. I, I think it’s really important that we all listen to this because as adults too, when would you say, would be a good time to introduce a phone? And how can we do that, you know, in terms of making it, providing this balance like what we’re talking about today.

00:16:10:00 – 00:16:35:12
Bill Brady
So I think it’s got to be done with the utmost of intention, banality. There’s no one specific age where I would say this is the age, right? Because every family circumstance is different. Every child’s needs are different. And they in very practical needs are different. And every child’s maturity level is different. I think it’s got to be done on a child by child basis, even within a family.

00:16:35:14 – 00:17:03:24
Bill Brady
You know, even within a family. I don’t think there’s a at this age you get a phone call because kids are kids are different. That age is definitely getting younger because so few families have home phones now. So if you want your kids to be able to be at home once they’re to an age where they can be at home alone, or when they can be babysitting for your family or another family, they have to have a device that’s just for safety.

00:17:03:24 – 00:17:26:11
Bill Brady
They have to have a way to to call the fire department if they need to. We also see the age coming down because of expectations, you know, set by schools. You know, where more and more schools have kids in digital learning platforms. And, you know, you submit your assignments on devices, you check your grades on devices, so that that age is coming down.

00:17:26:13 – 00:18:01:10
Bill Brady
The biggest advice I give parents is be intentional about it. I always say that, you know, just because everyone else is doing it was never the right reason to do anything right. So look at look at your child and their maturity level and their needs and make, make, an intentional decision. But in that process, there are some steps that we can take his parents to mitigate the potential of the phone or technology becoming the default for how life is lived.

00:18:01:17 – 00:18:27:02
Bill Brady
And that’s what we’re trying to avoid. You know, you don’t want to take your kid from not having a phone to being on a phone 95% of the time, you know? So so that’s where we say ease them into it and give them age appropriate technology that meets specific needs. So for a younger kid, start them with talk and text only.

00:18:27:04 – 00:18:52:28
Bill Brady
They don’t even need picture messages to begin with. Start with the most basic and make sure that that that initial ability to talk in text is completely safe. For example, in our product, we’ve built a bulletproof safe listing system where if someone is not in the child’s contact book, which is managed by the parent, they literally cannot talk or text with that kid.

00:18:53:01 – 00:19:13:06
Bill Brady
It’s it’s not possible. And so you know that that way you can say to your child, hey, here are the five, 1030, whatever the number is for your family, here are the people that you can talk to. Let me know, you know, and your child can add someone, but then you get to approve that contact, as a period.

00:19:13:06 – 00:19:43:28
Bill Brady
So you start with that level of safety and then teach them about how to use group messaging with the right etiquette, teach them about what pictures are appropriate to send and not send, and introduce, you know, picture messaging and step them through the addition of new technology as they’re trained, as they’re ready and as you can help them develop discipline and then look at adding apps that are safe in our platform.

00:19:44:01 – 00:20:07:10
Bill Brady
There’s no app Store on the child’s phone, but through the what we call our parent portal, the parent can choose from a library of apps that we’ve pre vetted for safety, you know, apps for school, apps for music, apps for spirituality, apps for sports, healthy hobbies, whatever those things are. And then as a as a parent, you can decide what your child needs and when.

00:20:07:13 – 00:20:35:17
Bill Brady
And again, make sure that they’re trained as they go. But the last thing that we want to do is put a device in the child’s hand and say, okay, now life is just virtual and it’s only on devices. No, we want the child to be a child, right? To enjoy childhood and to have that. The in-person and outdoor adventures that make childhood so wonderful and rewarding.

00:20:35:20 – 00:20:54:19
Dr. Mona
Oh, I love it and I really appreciate you taking a developmental approach, because I do see sometimes people put an age minimum like, hey, 12 years old, like, let’s give phones, right? Because that’s the age. I would say, I agree with you that it is a circumstantial situation. Especially knowing that everyone’s families different and you brought up that everyone’s development is different.

00:20:54:19 – 00:21:11:21
Dr. Mona
Like you could have a very mature eight year old and you’re like, you know what? It’s the youngest child in our family. We don’t have a home phone. We need this. And it is coming down to a lot of it, like you said, not only finding the software and technology that can support this like you have created, but also parental boundaries.

00:21:11:21 – 00:21:31:24
Dr. Mona
You know, we we still our parents, we still have to understand that if we’re introducing any luxury item like a cell phone to our child, that we are the ones setting the boundaries to protect them. But also, like you said, not defaulting to a screen’s only lifestyle. Now let’s take a break to hear from our sponsors. How do you provide that phone?

00:21:31:28 – 00:21:40:13
Dr. Mona
Now you have this world is there oyster with getting on all these things, but also not defaulting to a screen’s only lifestyle?

00:21:40:15 – 00:22:04:12
Bill Brady
So I think one of the first things they’re paradigm wise, I think it’s a great idea. Rather than say, hey Bobby, Sally, I’m gifting you this phone, it’s yours. I think it’s great to say, here’s a phone for you to use. There’s a difference there, right? In one case, and in the latter of those, our phone is the parents.

00:22:04:15 – 00:22:35:02
Bill Brady
It’s yours to use, so long as you use it with this discipline and you map out way ahead of time, you map out the things we do and the things we don’t do, and it becomes a contract between the parents and the child and is much, much easier to regulate, if you will, than if you just say, this is yours and you don’t put any thought ahead of time about expectations for what the things you do in the things you don’t do.

00:22:35:04 – 00:22:58:22
Bill Brady
I also think it’s essential that families develop a culture of phone downtime. You know, in our family, we don’t do phones at the dinner table. You know, there are times when we’re gathered as a family, you know, and that could be playing games or watching a movie or just talking. And we say, no, the phones go over there.

00:22:58:27 – 00:23:19:20
Bill Brady
You know, we have a place for the phones to rest. Yeah. In fact, I’ll even put out a plug for a product that we love. It’s called arrow. I don’t know if you’ve seen that, but of, it kind of gamified. It’s a box you everyone can put their phones in and it tracks phone downtime. It’s fantastic.

00:23:19:23 – 00:23:53:08
Bill Brady
And, I think creating a family culture where the people are more important than the devices is essential. I also love programs. You’re probably from I know you’re familiar, I guarantee it. I know you’re familiar with something called, 1000 hours outside. And it’s it’s a it’s a challenge. I forget the lady’s name that that started it, but it’s a challenge to families to say, hey, spend 1000 hours outside a year and put that into a daily average.

00:23:53:11 – 00:24:11:22
Bill Brady
You know, you’re three hours a day outside, and it’s, it really encourages a lifestyle that’s active and not on screens. And I think it’s it’s fantastic. But it’s definitely, a process that we’ve got to be conscious about.

00:24:11:24 – 00:24:27:03
Dr. Mona
Oh, yes. And this is a great conversation. I am so glad we went on our little tangent about social media in general, even for adults. And you brought up the dopamine hit. What would be, final message for everyone listening today.

00:24:27:06 – 00:25:00:16
Bill Brady
I know that parents are overwhelmed. I know that there’s this feeling of, this is something we have to do. Maybe we don’t want to do it. Maybe we’re worried about it. Maybe we’ve been waiting until we know there’s a safe approach. And I think any final message is you can have that safety. You can have the peace of mind that you’re looking for and give your child the device if you’re intentional about the way you do it, if if you just say, hey, here’s a brand new $1,400 iPhone, good luck.

00:25:00:18 – 00:25:24:10
Bill Brady
Yeah, you’re going to have problems. They’re going to be problems, I guarantee it. But if you take some time, do it methodically. Give them a device where you can maintain and control the phone environment that they have, stage by stage by stage. It’s going to be a lot less overwhelming than you think. And and you can see the benefits without all the risks that we’ve talked about.

00:25:24:12 – 00:25:36:08
Dr. Mona
I’m curious if you want to share this. How did you introduce it for your children, or have you in terms of the ages, and how was your decision process on, deciding that it was time for your kids to have one?

00:25:36:10 – 00:25:53:27
Bill Brady
So with our oldest, it started with that babysitting question. With our oldest, she was 12. She might have been 11, but she was to that age where she was starting to babysit, and her first phone was the flip phone. We could still we could actually still get flip phones.

00:25:54:00 – 00:25:55:04
Dr. Mona
Yeah. If you.

00:25:55:06 – 00:25:55:29
Bill Brady
Were.

00:25:56:02 – 00:26:05:04
Dr. Mona
People would be like, what is this device? Yeah. This is from the 1900s. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:05:06 – 00:26:06:23
Bill Brady
That’s what it would look like now. I’m sure.

00:26:06:23 – 00:26:09:12
Dr. Mona
That would. That’s what they would look at it as. Yeah.

00:26:09:14 – 00:26:34:05
Bill Brady
So we, we just took that that that minimalist approach. And you know I wasn’t in this industry yet. So that was the best alternative was a flip phone. But even as she grew and her her maturity increased and her needs evolved, we still were very intentional about what she could or could do on a phone. Even after she did get an iPhone.

00:26:34:07 – 00:26:43:06
Bill Brady
Our oldest daughter, she’s 19 now. She didn’t have an Instagram or a Snapchat account until about three months before her 18th birthday.

00:26:43:08 – 00:26:44:14
Dr. Mona
I mean, it’s amazing.

00:26:44:16 – 00:27:09:09
Bill Brady
Because that was just that was one of the lines that we drew in and we said, hey, we’re not going to do this. What’s essential, though, Mona, is that you don’t it can’t just be, this is my house. These are the rules. And. No, no, no, that’s what causes the wedge in the contention. So involve your kids in the conversation and help them understand why.

00:27:09:11 – 00:27:34:10
Bill Brady
You know, we’re waiting to do social media because of these risks. And look at this article and look at this article. And here’s this news story that talked about one of the terrible things that happened to someone. It started with social media. So we involve our kids in that conversation because of that approach. I never, literally never had a shouting match with my oldest daughter about social media.

00:27:34:13 – 00:27:56:00
Bill Brady
In fact, she actually came to us at one point and said, hey, thank you, thank you. I see all this garbage my friends are going through. I’m glad I’m not dealing with it. So it just you got to involve them in the in a very respectful understanding of why and set the boundaries and expectations that way.

00:27:56:03 – 00:28:13:01
Dr. Mona
Well, you know, I’m a big lover of parenting. Obviously my whole platform here and my podcast and the way you approach it with an authoritative, not authoritarian approach of like, hey, this is what we’re going to do. Let’s have a conversation about it. Like, I’m the boundary setter, but I want to include you in the process. Making is such a healthy way to approach that.

00:28:13:01 – 00:28:31:04
Dr. Mona
They feel some ownership, like you mentioned. And you know, I we’re far away from introducing I mean, at the time of this reporting, my older child’s four months and my baby’s six months. But I think about it with iPad introduction, you know, we delayed the introduction of an iPad, for various reasons. My family does not prefer iPads.

00:28:31:04 – 00:28:48:28
Dr. Mona
Okay. And then I look at other families who are doing it. Everyone’s different. Right? Some families introduced it way earlier than we have. Some families have not yet introduced it, but we introduced it just a couple months ago. So when he was like a little plus two, four, four years old and same thing, the boundaries with the iPad that this is when we travel in an airplane.

00:28:49:04 – 00:29:05:01
Dr. Mona
It’s the only time he gets access to an iPad. In our family. And you know, he he understands it. Like he understands that he’s not getting access to that iPad in the home. And when he wins or complains about it, we say, hey, sweetie, if you want to watch, we’re going to watch on the big television. We’re not going to watch on the iPad.

00:29:05:04 – 00:29:21:10
Dr. Mona
That’s for our special travel. And then now he’s trying to get on planes. You know, he’s like a smart kid. He’s like, what are we taking an airplane next? You know? But I’m like, okay, but but. So it’s not like you’re saying. It’s not like we’re we’re not allowing our child to have screen time, because I do believe that it is an enjoyable piece of his life.

00:29:21:10 – 00:29:38:15
Dr. Mona
He loves his cartoons, and I think it’s wonderful. And they’re, you know, shows that we’ve prevented. But there also is a boundary I have that I don’t, you know, to protect his visual health. Also the fact that I want him to be I want television watching to be somewhat communal. It’s something that I’ve always liked. And so, yeah, that’s kind of what we do.

00:29:38:15 – 00:29:57:01
Dr. Mona
And I, I use that example for maybe some of my listeners who may have younger children that it can start with an iPad introduction, then it evolves to cell phones and then involves two laptops and involves. So all the things that we are so grateful to have, like I said, I want to I want to really exit out with this whole what you started with the is like, I’m grateful for this.

00:29:57:01 – 00:30:18:19
Dr. Mona
I’m grateful that because of technology, I’m able to meet you, Bill, and have a conversation with you about boundaries. With cell phones and technology, which might not have happened had I never created my platform and had Instagram and whatnot. So thank you for, providing all your expertise, your research, your experience as a parent, to help guide parents in a non anxiety stressful way.

00:30:18:20 – 00:30:21:12
Dr. Mona
Like this was an amazing conversation.

00:30:21:15 – 00:30:24:05
Bill Brady
Thank you. Fantastic to be with you today.

00:30:24:08 – 00:30:35:22
Dr. Mona
Yeah. And for everyone listening, please make sure to leave a review if you found this helpful. Where can we stay in touch with you? Bill, if you have a social media platform or for more information about trauma wireless.

00:30:35:24 – 00:30:53:24
Bill Brady
True me.com is is our website from ai.com. We do a lot of blog content, with helpful content to help parents through all of these issues. And you can find us on Instagram and Facebook as, true wireless as well.

00:30:53:26 – 00:31:14:18
Dr. Mona
Perfect. And I’m going to be linking all of that to our show notes, so that you can stay in touch, find about what True Wireless is doing. Like I said, check them out as well. If you’re looking for the sort of balanced approach to provide technology, but also create safeguards for our children, which I also agree as a pediatrician into who’s very into development is an important aspect of parenting.

00:31:14:24 – 00:31:16:27
Dr. Mona
Thanks again, Bill, for joining us today.

00:31:16:29 – 00:31:17:16
Bill Brady
Thank you.

00:31:17:19 – 00:31:27:10
Dr. Mona
Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. As always, please leave a review. Share this episode with a friend. Share it on your social media. Make sure to follow me at Peds.

00:31:27:10 – 00:31:30:07
Dr. Mona
Doc Talk on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube.

00:31:30:07 – 00:31:32:07
Dr. Mona
Channel, PedsDocTalk TV.

00:31:32:10 – 00:31:33:10
Dr. Mona
We’ll talk to you soon.