This week we’re joined by author, educator, gamer, and all-around brilliant human Ash Brandin, @thegamereducator. With 15 years of teaching experience and a librarian’s heart for digital literacy, Ash brings both research and real-world wisdom to one of parenting’s trickiest topics: screen time.

Their new book, Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family, drops Tuesday, August 26, 2025—and we couldn’t be more excited to dive into it with them.

✨ In this conversation, we explore:

• Why it’s time to unlearn the shame around screen use and embrace screen time as neutral. As Ash stated “Shame is not empowering.”
• The Screen Time ABCs—Autonomy, Behavior, and Content—and how they help us rethink what matters most
• Practical ways to build digital literacy and safety into family life (yes, we talk parental controls and Common Sense Media!)
• Ash’s STAR framework (Settings, Time, Ads/App Store, Restrictions) for setting up screens to support—not overwhelm—your family
• How conversations about screen time can shift from stressful battles to ongoing, supportive dialogues

Ash’s approach is empowering, inclusive, and refreshingly realistic. Whether you’re a parent, educator, or just trying to navigate your own relationship with screens, this episode offers frameworks, fresh ideas, and a whole lot of encouragement.

Tune in and get ready to power on—in a way that works for your family.

Recorded in the Omniverus Studios at Liberty Plaza in downtown Winston-Salem, we are produced by Tim Beeman for Such-N-Such Media. Theme music is by Doug Davis.

Links:

• Love what you hear? Donate in any amount to support our podcast or via LinkTree in bio coff.ee/mamasgonnamakeit
• https://www.thegamereducator.com
• @thegamereducator
• Bookshop.org