For many families, screens have become a daily source of tension. You see your young person deeply engaged in a game or digital world, and it raises real questions. Is this learning? Is this connection? Or is something being missed?
In this conversation with Jordan Shapiro, we explore a different starting point. Instead of asking, “How do we limit this?” we begin with, “What’s actually happening here?” Because for many neurodivergent young people, digital environments are not just entertainment. They can be places where focus comes more easily, where rules are clearer, where identity can be explored, and where real skills are being developed.
At the same time, the concerns around balance, boundaries, and well-being are real. This is not a story of “screens are good.” It’s a more honest one: There is something meaningful happening here – and it’s our job to understand it well enough to guide it.
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Executive Director at Mosaic
A communications and storytelling leader, Bonnie works at the intersection of philanthropy, collaboration and action. She supports families, educators and partners as they explore non-traditional learning with clarity and confidence. With a background in strategy, media and movement-building, she brings a values-first approach rooted in kindness, truth, humor and integrity.
Associate Professor
Jordan Shapiro, Ph.D., is a globally recognized thought leader on education, child development, and digital play. An Associate Professor at Temple University and a Senior Fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, his work focuses on helping families and educators navigate the contemporary challenges of raising children.
Dr. Shapiro is the author of several influential books, most notably The New Childhood (2018), which has been translated into 11 languages and is credited with shifting the global conversation around screen time and digital citizenship. His follow-up, Father Figure: How to Be a Feminist Dad (2021), was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “utterly mind-blowing.” He is also the co-host of the Sesame Workshop and Roblox podcast, Into the Digital Future, exploring the educational potential of the metaverse.
A frequent contributor to the cultural discourse, his work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on NPR, with extensive international coverage in outlets such as The Telegraph, The Sunday Times (UK), El País (Spain), and Italy’s Corriere della Sera. Currently based in Tokyo as a visiting professor at Temple University Japan, he is working on a new philosophical nonfiction project exploring issues around identity, technology, and global education.
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