An Apology to the Generation We Raised on Screens

To the young people growing up in the world we shaped, we owe you an apology.

Many of us handed you glowing screens long before we understood the consequences. At first it felt harmless, even helpful. A cartoon on television bought us a few quiet minutes to cook dinner or finish chores. Later, tablets and smartphones did the same thing even better: they kept you entertained, quiet, and occupied. Parenting felt just a little easier.

We should have encouraged you to spend less time on screens and more time outside, where your curiosity could have been ignited and you might have learned to truly appreciate the beauty of nature.

Parenting convenience has a cost, and too often you’ve been the ones paying it.

What started decades ago with television slowly evolved into a world of endlessly stimulating devices. Every generation of technology became a little more engaging, a little more personalized, a little harder to look away from. By the time phones and social media entered your childhoods, the systems behind them were designed, quite intentionally, to capture attention and keep it.

Part of the reason these devices are so hard to put down has to do with dopamine, a chemical in the brain tied to motivation, reward, and anticipation. Every notification, video, message, or “like” can trigger small bursts of dopamine that make the brain feel rewarded and curious for more. The unpredictability, never knowing exactly what the next swipe will bring, can make the cycle even more powerful. Over time, the brain starts to crave those quick hits of stimulation, which is why checking a phone can become almost automatic.

Many of us didn’t fully understand the power of those designs or the biology behind them. We thought we were giving you tools, entertainment, and connection. In reality, we were sometimes handing you habits that would be difficult to break.

Now we see you wrestling with the very devices we normalized: checking phones constantly, struggling to focus, feeling the pull of screens even when you wish you could disconnect. And we recognize our role in that.

So this is part apology and part promise.

We’re sorry for the times we chose convenience over presence. We’re sorry we didn’t question the systems competing for your attention sooner. And we’re sorry if the world of constant stimulation made it harder for you to grow up with quiet, boredom, and space to think.

But we’re also learning, alongside you. Many of us are trying to set better boundaries, reclaim our attention, and rebuild healthier relationships with technology. Not by rejecting it entirely, but by using it more intentionally.

You deserve a world where your attention isn’t endlessly harvested and your worth isn’t measured in likes and notifications.

We helped create this problem. Now it’s our responsibility to help solve it.

Let’s get to work on it together.