I Didn’t Miss Out (Part 2): What I Gained Growing Up Without Screens with Andrew Hempe (#268)

ScreenStrong Families · Sep 15, 2026 · 33m

In Part 1, Andrew Hempe explained what he gained from growing up without smartphones or video games. In Part 2, he answers the questions parents and teens ask him most.

Andrew starts by admitting the obvious: he did miss out on some things—easy access to pornography, the anxiety and depression tied to social media, and screen addiction itself. His point: not all missing out is bad, and there's a real difference between protecting a child from permanent harm and sheltering them from healthy difficulty.

He also walks through what happened when he finally got a smartphone after high school, on…