Tim Wright’s books and blogs are helpful reminders of the need for care and compassion for child development in digital flux. Tim is a retired pastor in Phoenix, Arizona and has partnered with Michael Gurian and the Gurian Institute in rites of passage programs and summits for twenty years.

Tim is also the author of the young adult Toby Baxter series and co-host, with Michael, of the Wonder of Parenting Podcast (www.wonderofparenting.com). Connect with Tim at www.timwrightbooks.com. Here’s Tim’s guest blog post on a topic very important to our children’s lives.

This is for all the lonely people… (America)

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Yesterday I was chatting with a good friend of mine who leads a youth group once a week. He often has the students write down questions so that he can address the stuff they’re thinking about.

What struck me in this round of questions was the numbers of students asking some sort of question about loneliness—either feeling alienated from God, family, or friends, or a combination of all three.

I said to him that it feels like there’s a loneliness epidemic in his group, which should come as no surprise.

The rise of screen time has unleashed the rise of loneliness and isolation in our kids.

Face-to-face interaction is essential for strong communication skills. Kids who spend too much time on screens often struggle with eye contact, reading social cues, and having real conversations. They may have difficulty making and keeping friends, leading to social isolation and loneliness.

Studies show that kids spending over 2 hours a day on screens struggle to form meaningful relationships and develop empathy.

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I’m so lonesome I could cry… (BJ Thomas)

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Screens and social media aren’t the only reason for why a child might be lonely. Social anxiety, lack of confidence or social skills, learning challenges, and the like also play a role.

But screens aren’t helping.

And “just say no” to screens isn’t helping, either.

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It all comes back to what it always comes back to: face-to-face, in the flesh, relationships.

I get it. It’s a constant battle getting our kids off screen and back into real life. It’s exhausting. I have five screen-loving grandkids.

But for love’s sake, we’ll want to invest the necessary energy to help our kids re-engage with real life:

Getting them outdoors
Setting aside time each day to check in
Implementing screen-free time zones
Encouraging and supporting friend time—wherever that might be, without screens
Reading books for the joy of it
Participating in service projects with human beings—helping to feed the less fortunate; visiting elder care homes; helping out a neighbor with a project…
Committing to a community—be it a faith community, sports team, theater group, art clique, choir, or affinity group…
Screens have slowly eaten away at our kids’ ability to make real, lasting friendships. They’re lonely. And in their own ways they are asking for help.

Let’s intervene and change that storyline… for their sakes.

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Wouldn’t it be fine being lonely together… (Barry Manilow)

The loneliness epidemic is hitting males especially hard in contemporary society. The Gurian Summer Training Institute is coming in June, a place where this epidemic is studied. Dr. Gurian will deliver a keynote on Sunday morning, June 28, on The Digital Child that deepens some of what I discussed in this blog post. To learn more about the Institute and to register visit: https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2026/.