Ben Gillenwater helps families protect children from digital dangers, bringing 30 years of cybersecurity expertise to the parenting journey. His background includes working with the NSA and serving as Chief Technologist of a $10 billion IT company, where he built global-scale systems and understood technology’s risks at every level.
His mission began when he gave his young son an iPad with ”kid-safe” apps—only to discover inappropriate content days later. Despite his deep technical background, Ben realized that if protecting children online was challenging for him, it must be even more difficult for parents without his expertise.
Through Family IT Guy, Ben creates videos and articles that help parents and kids learn how to leverage the positive parts of the internet while avoiding the dangerous and risky parts. His approach bridges the knowledge gap between complex technology and practical family protection, making digital safety accessible to everyone.
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Ben Gillenwater helps families protect children from digital dangers, bringing 30 years of cybersecurity expertise to the parenting journey. His background includes working with the NSA and serving as Chief Technologist of a $10 billion IT company, where he built global-scale systems and understood technology’s risks at every level.
His mission began when he gave his young son an iPad with ”kid-safe” apps—only to discover inappropriate content days later. Despite his deep technical background, Ben realized that if protecting children online was challenging for him, it must be even more difficult for parents without his expertise.
Through Family IT Guy, Ben creates videos and articles that help parents and kids learn how to leverage the positive parts of the internet while avoiding the dangerous and risky parts. His approach bridges the knowledge gap between complex technology and practical family protection, making digital safety accessible to everyone.
Device Addiction in Kids: The Parenting Mistake Everyone Makes
Family IT Guy Podcast
6 minutes
1 month ago
Device Addiction in Kids: The Parenting Mistake Everyone Makes
Your child seems withdrawn. Device battles every day. Extreme meltdowns when you try to take their phone away. Sound familiar?If your kid has become unreachable since getting a smartphone or tablet - withdrawn from family, losing joy in activities they loved, fighting you over screen time - you're experiencing what thousands of parents are going through right now. You've probably tried taking devices away, setting new rules, drawing hard lines. And it failed.Here's the part most parents miss: Your child has been watching you on your phone since they were two years old. Sitting in their car seat, watching you scroll at stoplights. At dinner, watching you check notifications. At bedtime, seeing your phone come into your bedroom. Clinical psychologist Dr. Carrie Mackensen explains that children's brains are "associated machines" - they've been unconsciously coding in your behavior for years.This video reveals why traditional authoritarian approaches fail and what actually works: a three-strategy framework that starts with changing your own behavior first.This isn't about blaming parents - it's about understanding how behavior modeling works and using that knowledge to help your family. Research shows that collaborative approaches where parents model healthy behavior first have significantly higher success rates than authoritarian bans.View the Family IT Guy Amazon store for my recommended family-safe products https://www.amazon.com/shop/family.it.guy
Family IT Guy Podcast
Ben Gillenwater helps families protect children from digital dangers, bringing 30 years of cybersecurity expertise to the parenting journey. His background includes working with the NSA and serving as Chief Technologist of a $10 billion IT company, where he built global-scale systems and understood technology’s risks at every level.
His mission began when he gave his young son an iPad with ”kid-safe” apps—only to discover inappropriate content days later. Despite his deep technical background, Ben realized that if protecting children online was challenging for him, it must be even more difficult for parents without his expertise.
Through Family IT Guy, Ben creates videos and articles that help parents and kids learn how to leverage the positive parts of the internet while avoiding the dangerous and risky parts. His approach bridges the knowledge gap between complex technology and practical family protection, making digital safety accessible to everyone.
