As 7-year Olliver returned to school after the holiday break, we thought about the tension that emerged around using electronic devices:

“When can I watch my tablet?”

“Mom, where did you put my tablet?’

“Moooooooommm!”

What would we argue about if it wasn’t this? Maybe nothing.

But to be fair, of course there are times when we say, “Ok, you can look at your tablet now.” And there are moments when having Olliver on the tablet helps us get our stuff done. Just being honest.

And there are positives. Olliver has a school tablet he uses to complete i-Ready homework in math and reading (Curriculum Associates, n.d). Sora is an app we access through the New York City public schools that gives us access to an amazing online library of books and audiobooks (Sora app, n.d.).

I’ve listened to Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Kinney, 2007) while driving so many times, I remember the jokes. Olliver loves hearing the story—it’s wonderful!

And then there’s the other side. An amalgamation of unexpected ingredients that creates an unknown recipe. Some ingredients might be known, others hiding in plain sight, like our guacamole with its obvious avocado and hidden jalapeño.

We have data about this. A study published in JAMA Pediatrics (Radesky, et al., 2023) asks the question “Is the use of mobile devices to calm young children’s emotions and behavior associated with long-term difficulties with their executive functioning and emotional reactivity?” Children ages three to five participated, with study findings suggesting that “particularly in young boys or young children with higher surgency, the........

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