Raising Kids in the Age of AI, Social Media, and Smartphones

A virtual 5-session parent group for Ontario families. Practical strategies for smartphones, social media, gaming, and the newest terrain most parents feel least prepared for: AI. Grounded in the latest research and delivered by Dr. Zia Lakdawalla.

This Generation Is Growing Up Differently, and Parents Are Feeling It

Since 2010, rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm in children and teens have climbed sharply, in ways no previous generation experienced. Jonathan Haidt, Jean Twenge, and Jared Cooney Horvath have each shown the same pattern from different angles: the shift from play-based to phone-based childhood has changed how kids sleep, focus, connect, and regulate their emotions.

And now, before parents have fully caught up with smartphones and social media, generative AI has arrived in bedrooms, classrooms, and homework assignments. If parenting feels harder than it used to, that’s not just you. The environment kids are growing up in has genuinely changed, and the tools most of us were given as parents don’t quite fit the problem anymore.

Major depression among US teen girls has risen 145% since 2010. In boys, the increase is 161%. Suicide rates for younger teens have climbed to their highest recorded levels. The four foundational harms Haidt identifies (social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction) each map directly to hours spent on screens. (Data: Lukianoff & Haidt, US CDC.)

Beyond the Research: A Clinical Lens on What Screens and AI Do to Families

The research literature covers the individual child well. What often gets missed is what happens between parent and child. In her clinical work, Dr. Zia calls this the compromised attunement problem: smartphones and AI companions sit between parents and children in ways that block the small daily moments where connection actually gets built. They pull attention away, provide an addictive off-ramp from shared time, and make the ordinary work of noticing your child that much harder.

The other lens Dr. Zia brings is emotion regulation. When kids reach for a screen or an AI chatbot every time discomfort shows up, the neural pathways for tolerating hard feelings never fully develop. This is why AI matters so much in this conversation: it isn’t just a homework tool. It’s the newest, most personal, and most compelling way to offload difficulty. This group is designed around both of these ideas: helping parents rebuild connection where screens have eroded it, and helping kids build the discomfort tolerance that healthy emotional development requires, in an environment that is actively working against both.

What We Cover in Five Sessions

Each session runs one hour and builds on the last. You’ll leave with a working family tech playbook, scripts for the predictable conflict moments, and a peer group navigating the same terrain. What sets this group apart from what you’ll find in a book or a blog: a full dedicated session on AI, and an entire framework for talking to your kids about it.

Session 1: The Landscape

Grounded in the work of Haidt, Twenge, and Horvath. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of why this generation is genuinely different, which of the four foundational harms is most present in your own family, and permission to feel the worry without spiralling into it.

Session 2: The Tech Audit

Built around Horvath’s audit framework. You’ll leave with a personalized picture of your family’s real tech patterns, a working template you’ll continue using at home, and honest insight into the modeling patterns most parents don’t see until they’re reflected back.

Session 3: Domain Deep Dive, Social Media, Gaming, and Online Exposure

You’ll leave with age-appropriate scripts for the conversations most parents avoid, clarity on which delay strategies are actually evidence-based, and a working understanding of how algorithmic and reward-schedule design exploit developing brains. This is the session where shame runs highest, and it’s led with skill.

Session 4: AI in the Home, The Newest Terrain for Parents

The session you won’t find in most parenting programs, and the one many parents most need. You’ll leave with a family AI-use policy, language for having the conversation with your child, a clear-eyed view of companion AI and its emotional risks, and guidance on the AI-specific safeguards and controls most parents don’t yet know exist.

Session 5: Putting It Together

This is where your playbook gets assembled. You’ll leave with a written family tech and AI contract (co-created with your child so buy-in is real), a set of communication scripts for the predictable conflict moments, and a maintenance plan since apps, devices, and AI tools change faster than any contract will.

Real Support, Grounded in Family Therapy—Built for Today’s Parents

Therapy That Starts With You

We don’t just support kids—we provide parent coaching first. Because your response is often the most powerful intervention.

Tools That Actually Work at Home

Our methods go beyond theory. You’ll leave with clear, practical strategies that fit real-life parenting moments.

Backed by Science, Delivered With Warmth

We blend proven methods with real empathy—meeting you where you are and helping you move forward with confidence.

Designed for Long-Term Change

Parent coaching isn’t about quick fixes. It’s about helping you build a strong, connected family foundation—for today and the future.

This isn’t parenting theory. It’s a working playbook for the digital and AI environment your kids actually live in, built with the clinical rigor FFEW brings to every group.

Group Details

Format: Virtual, open to parents across Ontario
For parents of: Children and teens up to age 16
Group size: Up to 12 families per cohort
Length: 5 sessions, 1 hour each
Fee: $100 per session, $500 total for the full series
One fee per family: Both parents or co-parents attend on a single registration, at no additional cost
Start: Fall 2026 cohort. Dates confirmed at registration.

Sessions are billed as parent therapy and are covered by most extended health insurance plans. Very few parent programs in Canada address AI meaningfully. This one puts it at the centre.

This Group Is Part of a Wider Movement

Dr. Zia is a proud advocate for Unplugged Canada, a national movement empowering families to delay smartphones until at least the end of Grade 8. Collective action changes what feels possible. When enough families in a school or neighbourhood delay together, the “everyone else has one” pressure that drives so many premature phone decisions starts to lift. This group gives you the framework. Unplugged Canada gives you a community of parents making the same choices.

Learn About Unplugged Canada

Meet Your Facilitator

Dr. Zia Lakdawalla, Ph.D., C.Psych. is a child, adolescent, and parenting psychologist and the founder of FFEW. She works closely with families navigating the intersection of screens, mental health, and modern parenting, and delivers school workshops and community talks across Ontario on protecting children’s mental health in the digital age. Her clinical framework brings together the research (Haidt, Twenge, Horvath, Lembke) with two lenses she brings from her own practice: attunement and emotion regulation.

Read Dr. Zia’s Full Bio

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to common questions parents ask about this service—so you can feel more confident about what to expect.

Who is this group for?

Parents of children and teens up to age 16. The group works for parents thinking preventively (before phones and social media are even on the table), parents already in the thick of screen conflicts, and parents somewhere in between. What ties everyone together is a desire for a clearer, evidence-based framework, including how to handle the newer challenges around AI.

Do I need to bring my child to any of the sessions?

No. This is a parent-only group. All of the work happens between adults, with the strategies then implemented at home. This is deliberate. Change in this space happens through parents, not through lecturing kids.

What if we’ve already given our child a phone or opened social media accounts?

You are not alone, and it’s not too late. Session 5 explicitly covers how to renegotiate access, introduce new limits, and rebuild structure after devices are already in the house. The group is just as useful for parents pulling back as it is for parents deciding when to start.

Can both parents attend?

Yes, and it’s encouraged. This group is priced per family, not per parent. Both parents (or co-parents) can attend all five sessions on a single registration at no additional cost. Alignment between caregivers is one of the strongest predictors of whether new limits actually hold at home.

Is the group covered by insurance?

Sessions are delivered by our clinical team of registered psychologists, psychotherapists, and social workers, and billed as parent therapy on your receipt. Most extended health insurance plans that cover psychological services will reimburse these sessions, though coverage varies by plan and provider type. Check with your insurer about what your plan covers.

Does the group really cover AI in depth?

Yes. Session 4 is fully devoted to AI in the home, and AI is woven into Sessions 1, 2, and 5 as well. This is one of the few parent programs in Canada actively addressing AI, and you leave with a family AI-use policy and concrete conversation scripts.

What if I have to miss a session?

Life happens. If you miss a session, we’ll send you a written summary and any homework so you can stay caught up. That said, the group works best when you can commit to attending all five sessions live.