Jocko Underground: Is Kids' Screen Time Stunting Their Development?

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Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jocko Willink?

  This is the Jocko Underground Podcast, number 208, sitting here with Echo Charles, and we have gotten some questions from the field, from the front lines, from life, from business, from the battlefield, in some cases. And we will present some answers, some recommendations, or at a minimum, some various courses of action to follow. So let's get into it.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Okay, first question. Greetings, Jocko Echo. I've been on the path for years, home gym, jiu-jitsu, blue belt, hell yeah. Business owner and father to a three-year-old, future BJJ World Champ. It's a good dream.

• 0:38Jocko Willink?

  It's a good dream. It's a good dream.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  My wife is amazing and runs her own business from home. She also works out and takes care of our son during the day. We're very intentional about how we're raising him, keeping him active, learning and eating well. But with our schedules, we sometimes rely on movies to distract him while we get work done. No tablet, just longer, more educational content on TV. But it still doesn't feel great. What would you do in this situation to build good habits for your kids while still handling work? We can't afford an any yet.

• 1:11Jocko Willink?

  Check. Well, first of all, I'll say it sounds like you're doing awesome. You've got the jiu-jitsu, the home gym. It's a big step.

• 1:19Speaker 01

  Huge.

• 1:20Jocko Willink?

  It's a big step. People don't even realize how big of a step that is. But that's a big step. Jiu-jitsu, um, got your business. It's awesome, man, and you've got a kid. You've got a son. So you're, and it sounds like you're doing a good job already. Like, honestly, here's the thing. I wouldn't worry about it too much. You've got him watching an educational movie. There's like good educational movies, there's documentaries, there's nature programs. There's cool stuff to watch and healthy stuff to watch and it's perfectly fine. And you don't have him on a freaking iPad or an iPhone. I was at an event, we'll say. And the event was, let's say, about three and a half hours long.

• 2:03Jocko Willink?

  And it was, uh, there was a kid that was probably, probably around this age, like three or four. Was literally on an iPad like like fingers moving on the iPad for three and a half straight hours. No, no breaks. It was insane. So you got your kid watching the occasional movie. You know, maybe he's watching a half an hour of a movie while you guys are getting dinner ready or something like that. Maybe he's watching forty five minutes of a movie while you are, you know, while you're while you're doing work at home while your wife is growing. There's reasons why you know, it's like, okay. And you got him watching some good stuff. You know, I watched freaking, what was it? Sesame Street? Yep.

• 2:47Jocko Willink?

  When I was a kid. That's a half an hour program. Hmm. I probably watched that. Oh, I watched Batman and Robin. What, the cartoon? No, like those weird men. Live action? Yeah. You know what I'm talking about? The show, the old? Yeah, like the show with the kabam and the boom, right? Yeah. Um, so those are, I watched those pretty consistently as a kid. Saturday morning cartoons? Hundred percent. Hmm. So, I mean, I don't think, I think that's our whole generation grew up doing that. Yeah. And I don't think we're like too twisted or anything. So I think you're in a good spot. And I will say that well, the three year olds are a little bit tricky. Three year olds a little bit tough because some, some forthcoming activities, they're just out of reach right now. Hmm.

• 3:29Jocko Willink?

  They're just out of reach right now. Next year or so, you're going to be able to really expand what you make available to him. Uh, the building toys, the blocks, the Legos, the the Tonka trucks, the bow and arrow, like the foam bow and arrow thing, the the Nerf ball, the Nerf guns, the jungle gym, like all these things are coming, they're right around the horizon. Hmm. And once that happens, like you're, you can, there's no reason for anything else other than, um, all those things. You know, when I had this thing for my son, uh, he had an area in our yard that he called his area. Sure. And it was just dirt and mud and shovels and green army men and tanks and bazookas and half tracks and.

• 4:15Jocko Willink?

  Little sidecar motorcycles like just war scene.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:19Jocko Willink?

  And the hose would get putting in there and the shovels would come out, foxholes were being dug. It was a disaster for, uh, you know, what is that lawn manicuring?

• 4:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:30Jocko Willink?

  There was no lawn, there was rivers out there, you know, the water bill crept up because there was white water activities going down with British commandos and kayaks and stuff like this. But dude, this kid was out there for hours. With his buddies, hours and hours and hours and hours. So that's, you know, set something up like that for your kid. And then when they dig just, just a little bit beyond that is bikes, skateboards, basketballs, footballs, uh, Nerf guns, more Nerf guns, BB guns, like it's, it's gonna be on. So I wouldn't sweat this too bad. It sounds like you're in a good spot. You're minimizing it as much as you can. And he's about to hit an age where the whole world opens up to him. So.

• 5:15Jocko Willink?

  Gonna be good to go, man. Don't worry about it. Little movie now and again, you know, uh, you'd be fine. That's what I got.

• 5:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, makes sense. The, cause everything that's on a screen, we'll say, cause that's a super general thing, right? A screen. And then there's this, everything's not created equal on the screen, you know? So there's like things that a kid at whatever age can watch on a screen that can be, you know, whatever, whatever you want to assign to it, whether it be damaging or just, you know, uh, intrusive or, or, uh, held his development back or something like this, right? And then there's over here, which could be straight up helpful, like straight up, like you mentioned Sesame Street. By the way, if you remember Sesame Street was pretty educational. They were talking about words and consonants and vowels and all this other stuff.

• 6:03Speaker 01

  So I think sometimes we can be like, oh, iPad, bad. Hundred percent. Under all circumstances, bad. Now, an argument can be made that like, hey, if this kid never gets in front of an iPad, that's beneficial for XYZ region. And I, and I believe that that is, that is correct. I believe. But I do also at the same time, believe that there's things, whether it be on an iPad or just a TV screen, which is kinda different in a lot of ways. There are some things on there that aren't terrible, that are actually can be helpful. Now the thing is like, like anything where if it's like, okay, if that, if a kid, especially during like development, this is just what I, what I've come to understand.

• 6:43Speaker 01

  If they now become addicted to that thing and it's like getting in the way of other development or other interests and stuff like that where now they don't want to do anything. They just want to be on the iPad, you know, because of certain things, certain addictive things that they're watching and they're locked into it. You know that because from what I understand, that's the thing when they're locked into it because um, let's see your word, what Gen X, right?

• 7:05Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, we're Gen X.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  Like, consider watching movies, like we all watch freaking movies, dumb movies too, by the way, um, scary movies, you know, whatever. It's like, it's not necessarily bad for you, but this is from what I understand. It's like if you, if me and you and, you know, let's say our wives, our families, we're all watching a movie, we all share that experience together. When you're locked into like a screen, you're essentially blocking out the rest of the world, you know, and I guess that can have like some effects. So I think, I think this is very general because, you know, this faces a lot of details in this kind of stuff.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  If he, they're intentional, which they are, they're gonna be just fine.

• 7:46Speaker 01

  Because you're not using it actively, using it as a babysitter, see what I'm saying?

• 7:50Jocko Willink?

  Yeah, totally agree.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  You're gonna be fine.

• 7:53Jocko Willink?

  Good to go.

• 7:53Speaker 01

  Good to go.

• 7:54Jocko Willink?

  Keep getting after it.

• 7:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, but, but we do fall into that, I think.

• 7:57Jocko Willink?

  Oh, no, you definitely, modern parents can fall into like, alright, just give him the iPad.

• 8:02Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, yeah, fully. And on the other side too, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'm just saying like, you know, if you be conscious of these kinds of things, because you can read whether it be on the internet or on the news or whatever, they're like, oh yeah, uh, screen time. They just say screen time, but screen time is very broad. So they just will say, hey, screen time bad. So then now they'll feel guilty if the kid is enjoying like literally a movie on the TV, when that's like, you know, since nineteen freaking twenty or whatever movie's been out, you know, kind of a thing.

• 8:34Jocko Willink?

  So that is a little excerpt of what we are doing on the Jocko Underground Podcast. So if you want to continue to listen,

• 8:44Jocko Willink?

  go to jockounderground.com and subscribe and we're doing this, we're doing this to mitigate our reliance on external platforms. So we are not subject to their control and we are doing this so that we can support the Jocko Podcast, which will remain as is, free for all, as long as we can keep it that way. But we, but we are doing this so we don't have to be under the control of sponsors. And we're doing it so we can give you

• 9:16Jocko Willink?

  more control, more interaction, more direct connections, better communications with us.

• 9:22Jocko Willink?

  And to do that, we are, we're building a website right now. Where we'll be able to utilize to strengthen this legion of troopers that are in the game with us. So thank you. It's jockounderground.com. It costs $8.18 a month. And if you can't afford to support us,

• 9:42Jocko Willink?

  we can still support you. Just email [email protected] and we'll get you taken care of. Until then, we will see you mobilized underground.