Dads Against Devices™

The Paradox of Social Media

Matthew Royston — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 13:22:04 GMT

The paradox of social media is that it actually creates increased feelings of loneliness and detachment. This is because it only offers the facade of connection without actually providing real connection.

The first year of marriage found my wife and I spending many months apart figuring out visas and immigration — I loved that technology was able to help…

Where will you be this Thanksgiving?

Matthew Royston — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 13:03:08 GMT

The usual posting schedule is Monday and Friday, but I wanted to share this post with you early so you could read it before Thanksgiving; Friday would be too late. So this post is coming 2-days early this week. I hope it helps you have a great Thanksgiving.

This week I sat down and tried to remember where I’d been every Thanksgiving since I got married i…

Informed by information.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:03:06 GMT

We all influence and get influenced by others. Some like to downplay how influenceable they are; however even the ideas of the most independent thinkers will be informed, shaped and even curated by the information they digest.

Children are especially susceptible to influence. What they read, see, and hear shapes the way they think, feel, and react to the…

The things we can’t pass on to our children.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 12:02:33 GMT

There are lots of things our children can inherit from us; biology, personality and tangible assets. But one thing we cannot pass to our children is a deep internal sense of purpose.

Discovering and understanding the meaning and purpose of life, existence, conscience, and eternity will always be a deeply individual and personal one. We can, and should wa…

5 Reflective Questions to Ask Ourselves About Our Own Screen Time.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:24:09 GMT

Being a DAD is about leading by example and teaching our children to use technology with purpose.

The technology tools available to us are incredible and powerful — but when they are misused — or even overused — they can become harmful. They can damage our relationships and diminish our ability to lead our children.

As DADS™, we have a responsibility to r…

Putting conversation on the table.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 23:01:29 GMT

I am a big advocate for device-free family meals around the dinner table.

Every family’s schedule and rhythm looks slightly different; but as DADS™ I encourage us to make meals together a priority. These moments offer us the opportunity to model connection, practice communication, and build the skills of empathy and critical thinking in our children.

A mi…

How can I lead my children when I also struggle to have healthy boundaries with technology?

Matthew Royston — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 19:29:22 GMT

Do you wonder how you can possibly teach healthy relationships with technology when you also struggle to achieve this?

Children, especially my own, are adept at spotting hypocrisy. I am the first to acknowledge that I wrestle with the ideals I believe and penned as the Dads Against Devices™ pledge.

Obvious hypocrisy around screens and technology will unde…

6 Questions to Ask Before saying “Yes” to Screen Time.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:02:39 GMT

Being a DAD doesn’t mean we ban technology in our homes. We believe in boundaries — not bans.

Being a DAD is about leading by example and teaching our children to use technology with purpose.

The technology tools available to our children are incredible and powerful, but when they are left unsupervised, unrestricted or untrained, those tools can become ha…

Grateful I Grew Up Before the Whole World Was Watching.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 11:02:49 GMT

I listened to a TED talk this past February that started a shift in my thinking about kids these days.

It increased my empathy for them and continues to influence me.

When I was in secondary school, camera phones were just coming onto the market — their quality was low, and no one dared to try sending a picture because data rates were so high on our pay-a…

Being a Good Dad is About Practice, Not Perfection.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 11:02:19 GMT

One reason I continue to stay away from social media is that I, like my children, am not immune to comparing my life against the near flawless lives that are shared online.

Comparing, especially one’s lack or weakness to another’s accomplishment or strength, is poison to the soul.

Our World Needs Dads. That’s Why We Must Never Denigrate Them.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 11:03:24 GMT

I am fortunate to be the father of both boys and girls.

There may never have been a better time to be a girl growing up in America than today.

Great progress has been made to open opportunities for women to thrive — which fills me with hope as I look at my daughters and imagine the possible futures open to them.

Guarding The Garden of The Mind.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:04:11 GMT

The mind is amazing. What it is no one fully knows or understands. Despite great advances in neuroscience, our consciousness remains a great mystery — comprehending our thoughts, reasoning and perceptions seems to be elusive to modern scientific methods.

Our minds are resilient and capable of doing remarkable things but they are not infallible or indestr…

I Revised The DADS™ Pledge.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 11:03:08 GMT

It’s important to start. To sit endlessly in the planning stage means to go nowhere and accomplish nothing. Before I launched DADS™ I spent several weeks writing and refining the pledge with the help of my wife, friends and AI.

I thought the pledge was complete so I decided to start publishing. But since I started writing and publishing articles I have b…

Sending Our Children to the Front Lines of the Internet’s War of Words.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:01:18 GMT

Words, in many ways, are the most lethal weapons in a persons arsenal. A quick visit to the comments section of any platform will demonstrate how words can be used to belittle, berate and bombard others.

The internet continues to fuel polarization, which often ignites wars or words across nearly every platform on the internet.

It is impossible for DADS™ t…

Creating Shared Experiences

Matthew Royston — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 15:59:26 GMT

Friday night is movie night in our home. My five young children eagerly await for me to return home from work to eat dinner and start the show.

Yes movies are screens — and yes, they allow limited talking — but when watched together they offer something valuable: a shared experience that creates connection.

Still, I have been guilty, more than once, of no…

One Is Worth A Thousand.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 22:00:44 GMT

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words; well I say that one real relationship is worth a thousand virtual ones.

We need relationships. Prolonged isolation is harmful to our souls. Whilst online relationships offer the appearance of connection they ultimately lack the substance and quality that real relationships provide.

This is one reason so m…

It All Adds Up.

Matthew Royston — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 11:01:50 GMT

10 minutes isn’t a long time — unless you’re practicing presence for the first time.

10 minutes of entertainment however can feel more like 10 seconds, which is why it’s easier for us to underestimate how much time we give to our screens.

Time is precious because it’s limited and we never know how much we have, yet we spend, even squander, too much of it …

Should we promote legislation to ban smartphones and social media?

Matthew Royston — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 11:02:52 GMT

As the founder of DADS™ — Dads Against Devices™ I’ve often wondered whether I should support legislation that would ban smartphones and social media for children.

There’s no doubt some precedent for it and I understand why some are drawn to legislative solutions. But my stance is simple: I will leave that debate to others.

I believe in leadership over leg…

Let’s Be Human Again.

Matthew Royston — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 11:03:21 GMT

On first reading, one might interpret the DADS™ pledge as an anti-technology statement, but this was never my intention.

I am not anti-tech; I personally use many of the wonderful tools available to enrich my life and teach my children. If I have any objection it is that children, and even adults, have unmonitored, unrestricted, and unlimited access to t…

Where Will This Lead?

Matthew Royston — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:03:35 GMT

It’s been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step — so watch your step.

Many people have found themselves at the end of a road they never imagined or planned to be at — but they got there gradually, sometimes imperceptibly, but always one step at a time.

Lots of the negative outcomes of digital dependence — anxiety, loneliness, s…