Podcasts · What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms

DEEP DIVE: Gaia Bernstein on Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies

20 Jul 2026 · 33 min

This month, our "Deep Dive" is into some of our past episodes about screen time: the effects it has on our kids, how tech companies engineer their devices to be as addictive as possible, and how we can allow our kids to enjoy screens with supportive limits.

How do we untangle ourselves from technology? We give ourselves a hard time for not being able to put our screens down, but the platforms we use are designed to be addictive. It's not our fault.

Gaia Bernstein's new book: Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies shatters the illusion that we can control how much time we spend on our screens by the force of willpower, timers, or yelling.

Margaret and Gaia discuss:

• The psychological forces that make us keep scrolling • What Big Tech and Big Tobacco have in common • Why screen time limiters and other similar methods don't work

Here's where you can find Gaia:

• https://gaiabernstein.com/ • Twitter: @BernsteinGaia • Buy Gaia's book Unwired: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781009257930

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Links in the notes 5

• https://gaiabernstein.com/
• https://www.amazon.com/Unwired-Gaining-Control-Addictive-Technologies/dp/1009257935
• https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781009257930
• https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/
• https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices