Rediscovering Real Connection in a Screen-Driven World

By Gino Grunberg

The Pew Research Center surveyed 3,640 U.S. parents with children under 18 and found that two-thirds believe raising kids today is harder than it was 20 years ago. The reason? Technology—especially smartphones and social media.

If you ask most parents (and teachers, too), they’ll nod in agreement. Families feel it every day. Parents of young children, especially, are uneasy about the effects of screen time. In fact, Pew found that 71% of parents with kids under 12 worry their children spend too much time on screens—and 31% are very concerned.

That’s why our mission at Peninsula Thriving Generation is clear: to empower the next generation to rediscover the joy of active play, creativity, and real-world connections—by reducing excessive screen time and encouraging meaningful, face-to-face relationships.

Author Andy Crouch puts it well in his book The Tech-Wise Family: we need to “find the proper place for technology in our family lives and keep it there.”

What does “proper place” mean? It means technology is rightly ordered—used with intention and purpose, not as the default setting of our lives.

That’s why, on World Mental Health Day, October 10, 2025, we are launching a community-wide campaign to help families, schools, and workplaces reset the way we use technology. Together, we can put tech back in its proper place:

• In its place is when it helps us connect more deeply with the people we are called to love.

• Out of place is when it pulls our hearts toward people far away—like celebrities we’ll never meet—while distracting us from the relationships right in front of us.

• In its place is when it sparks meaningful conversations.

• Out of place is when it keeps us from really talking with—and listening to—the people around us.

• In its place is when it helps us grow in skill and mastery—whether in music, sports, cooking, writing, or the arts.

• Out of place is when it turns us into passive consumers instead of active learners.

The good news is we can turn the tide. Together, as a community, we can take small but powerful steps that bring us closer to the life we really want for ourselves and our children—a life filled with joy, play, creativity, and face-to-face connection.

This is our moment. Let’s not miss it.

– Gino Grunberg

For more information, visit: www.PeninsulaThriveGeneration.org/

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