I am a digital pioneer, raising my four children deliberately screen-free. Not out of technophobia, but because I know what screens do to children.
"Without digital devices kids are bored more often. For parents this surely means to go the extra mile on occasion."Philipp Depiereux in Stern interview, March 2026
Four children, clear rules, lived practice. What sounds radical is the result of years of trial and error.
In the age of AI, the focus is often on children's digital skills - while overlooking what machines cannot do. Empathy, social competence, genuine communication, genuine teamwork. These are precisely the areas where humans will not be replaced by AI, but become indispensable.
Four of these seven skills develop better through real interaction than on a screen. At the dinner table, on the sports field, in arguments with siblings, in negotiating with friends. Those who release children into the digital world too early deprive them of the very practice grounds where these abilities mature. At the cost of the four skills that are AI-immune.
Instead of scrolling through feeds, my children have the time and space to develop genuine interests: reading, sports, going out, music. What other parents lament as 'lost screen time' is, for us, time for their own curiosity.
Homework done in one go instead of 17 interrupted stretches. Sleep without phantom notifications. Attention spans that many other parents painfully miss in their children.
Conversations at the dinner table without 'just checking the phone quickly'. Arguments are talked through, not left to fester in WhatsApp threads. Whoever is in the room gets full attention.
The prefrontal cortex matures until the mid-20s. Training it daily on 8-second stimuli shapes the very organ a child will later use to make decisions.
Boredom, failure, waiting: without a reel immediately filling the gap. This is exactly the muscle that atrophies when every idle moment is swiped away.
'My child handles it responsibly' is the lie parents tell themselves. Endless feeds and streaks were developed by behavioral psychologists. For slot machines.
Since 2012, depression and self-harm in girls have risen dramatically. Those who measure their self-worth in Likes carry that with them until age 40.
Facial expressions, tone of voice, sitting with silence. You don't learn this in group chats. What later sustains careers and marriages is practiced at the dinner table.
Those who don't constantly consume will eventually start to create. A child permanently entertained becomes a consuming adult.
Motor skills and posture come from doing, not watching tutorials. Scraped knees instead of carpal tunnel.
A nuanced vocabulary comes from reading, not from captions. Those who only know 'cringe' and 'mid' also think that way.
What lands in a class chat at age 11 is still discoverable at 31. Children can't grasp this. Parents can.
Before children are released onto the digital highways, they need a digital practice ground. First the restriction, then the guidance.
I advocate for a statutory social media ban for under-16s following Australia's example. Parents need a state mandate to be able to say no.
The most important parenting competency in the digital age, and the least popular. A no you can stand by, even when everyone else is saying yes. A no that is often the bigger yes in the long run.
As a keynote speaker, Philipp brings the topic of analog childhood to the stage — with conviction, humor and real-life experiences.