Growing Up Without a Smartphone with Joel May (#93)

from ScreenStrong Families · host Joel May

Today Melanie welcomes Joel May, a Youth Pastor and a Director of Youth Ministries at a local church in North Carolina. One of the unique things about Joel is that he was raised without a smartphone or video games. This lack of toxic technology growing up allowed for him to develop his identity independent of others or needing external validation through social media. He found his identity through extracurricular activities ranging from music, athletics, and theater to his church involvement with various community service projects. He attributes his unique outlook to his parents, who raised him and his siblings with a strong sense of work ethic, responsibility, and independence to develop strong life skills.In this episode, Melanie and Joel discuss the addiction and dependency on screens by teenagers and the struggle it presents for families. He provides his perspective on how toxic technology use becomes a barrier to connection, fellowship, and community building, and goes against the fundamentals of what it means to be human. Melanie and Joel discuss the difficult subject of pornography, and Joel shares his perspective on how exposure to pornography is affecting our children and our culture through toxic technology. Joel offers us his thoughts on what to do if you find your child using pornography, and he also provides us with a list of skills and advantages that kids with low-tech exposure can develop.Support the showDon't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy the episode. Your feedback helps us bring you more of the content you love. Stay Strong!Get your copy of the BRAND NEW Adventures of Super Brain book!Start your ScreenStrong Journey today!Check out our Kids' Brains & Screens products.Want to help spread the ScreenStrong message to your community? Consider becoming a ScreenStrong Ambassador!ScreenStrong Tech RecommendationsCanopy—Device Filter (use code STRONG for discount)Production Team:Host: Melanie HempeProducer & Audio Editor: Olivia Kernekin

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This episode is 1 hour and 6 minutes long.

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This episode was published on March 16, 2022.

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