Stronger Weekly ·Oct 7, 2026 ·58 min

Four Kids. No Wi-Fi. No Screens. How a Tech Founder Raises Kids Like It's 1996 (Will Stackable)

Evaluation and Summary

7.4/10

Stronger Weekly tackles screen time and digital minimalism through the lens of Will Stackable, co-founder of ArborXR (a VR company serving Fortune 500s), who raises four kids under ten with no TV, screens, or Wi-Fi in a farmhouse outside Fort Collins. The episode opens with a health brief covering recent research: a study linking smartphone ownership at 12 to 67% higher risk of binge-eating symptoms by 14, an umbrella review of 2.8 million children across 64 countries showing screen time tied to lower grades and anxiety, a parenting study finding warm consistency beats everything else, and creatine's muscle-building effects in older adults. Stackable shares his personal journey: a pivotal moment on the floor with his son that prompted change, a year living without a smartphone, and the realization that willpower alone fails against app design built for addiction. He discusses the "whack-a-mole" problem of managing individual apps, the concept of "solitude deprivation," and why boredom is developmentally necessary for kids. The episode covers practical strategies: using a projector instead of screens, managing the social pressure when peers have phones, and the distinction between "caught not taught" parenting. Stackable emphasizes shifting from avoidance to cultivating love of offline activities. The latter half pivots to actionable advice for typical households unwilling to eliminate Wi-Fi entirely—how to talk to kids about screens, what to implement this week, and navigating the teenage years when everyone has phones. The episode is framed within Stronger Weekly's broader mission: health and fitness advice that respects the reality of parenting, careers, and competing demands. Sponsors include Purist Nutrition, Rep Fitness, and Oar Health. The show notes reference Stackable's LinkedIn post and provide a helpline for eating disorders, grounding the discussion in real resources.

Verdict: A well-researched, practically grounded episode that pairs timely research with a credible real-world example and delivers actionable advice for both extremes and the middle ground, though the guest lacks formal credentials in child development.

Health & Fitness rubric

Evidence-based claims 4/5 20%

Opens with two major peer-reviewed studies (2.8M children, smartphone-eating disorder link) and a parenting study; guest is a tech founder with lived experience, not a researcher, but claims are anchored to research rather than pure anecdot
Expert credentials 3/5 20%

Will Stackable is a tech entrepreneur and parent with relevant lived experience and industry insight, but not a clinician, psychologist, or child development researcher; host Jesse Carrajat is a certified health coach and healthcare executi
Safe and practical advice 4/5 15%

Advice is grounded in personal experience and research; episode explicitly offers both extreme (no Wi-Fi) and moderate versions for typical households; acknowledges willpower limitations and offers structural solutions; provides resources (
Substance 4/5 15%

Dense with specific research findings, personal narrative, practical strategies (projector use, talking points, weekly actions), and developmental concepts (solitude deprivation, boredom); timestamps show structured progression without obvi
Delivers on its title 5/5 15%

Title promises a tech founder's 1996-style parenting approach; episode delivers exactly that—his story, methods, research context, and crucially a practical playbook for normal families, fully addressing the promise
Value for time 4/5 15%

58 minutes is reasonable for health brief plus deep-dive interview; timestamps suggest tight pacing with clear segments; some interview length is expected but no obvious padding evident from structure

How we score Health & Fitness

Worth it if you're a parent concerned about screen time, want research-backed perspective plus lived experience, and need both inspiration and realistic tactics for your own household.

Content flags

Ad-heavy Three sponsor reads listed (Purist Nutrition, Rep Fitness, Oar Health) in a 58-minute episode; typical for the show but notable density

#parenting #screen-time #digital-wellness #child-development #health-research

Based on the episode description. AI-generated; it can be wrong.

Show notes

Two major studies landed this week on what screens are doing to kids — one tying smartphone ownership at 12 to eating disorder symptoms at 14, the other pooling data on 2.8 million children across 64 countries and finding lower grades, weaker language, and more anxiety across the board. Every parent listening already feels it. Almost none of us know what to actually do about it. So Jesse sat down with his friend Will Stackable — co-founder and CMO of ArborXR, a VR company serving more than eighty Fortune 500s — who has spent ten years building the future and lives in a farmhouse outside Fort Collins with four kids under ten, no TV, no screens, and no Wi-Fi. This is his story honestly told: the moment on the floor with his son that started it, the year he threw out his smartphone entirely, why willpower was never enough, the firewalls he built instead, and what it gave his family. Then the part most people need — the version of this for a normal household that isn't about to rip out the router. How to talk to a kid about it. What to do this week. And what happens when they're teenagers and every friend has a phone. PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS - Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 40 years of progress, and the free tool to know your own risk - A 2,700-child study finds warm, consistent parenting beats everything else — and inconsistent discipline hurts most - Creatine built muscle in adults 45 to 65 even without exercise in a new 12-week trial - Smartphone ownership at 12 linked to a 67% higher risk of binge-eating symptoms by 14 - An umbrella review of 2.8 million kids finds screen time tied to lower grades and more anxiety TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Cold Open & Intro 1:27 - The Weekly Health Brief 1:38 - Breast Cancer Awareness Month 3:16 - Warm and Consistent: The Parenting Study 5:03 - Creatine Builds Muscle Without Exercise 7:58 - The Phone at 12 10:01 - 2.8 Million Kids: The Screen Review 11:28 - Will Stackable Joins 13:40 - Reading the Post: "Dad, Why Don't We Have Wi-Fi?" 17:34 - Why He Finally Wrote It 18:17 - A 90s Kid, Then a Phone at 16 20:42 - The Moment on the Floor With His Son 22:21 - A Year With No Smartphone 24:19 - Whack-a-Mole: Apps and Infinity Pools 27:25 - Solitude Deprivation 30:50 - Driving Back in Time 32:25 - Atoms Over Electrons 35:42 - Why Kids Need to Be Bored 39:03 - The Adjustment, and the Projector 43:24 - When Their Friends All Have Phones 48:36 - Caught, Not Taught 49:53 - From Avoidance to Love 52:08 - The Playbook for a Normal Family 57:27 - Outro ABOUT WILL STACKABLE: Co-founder and CMO of ArborXR, which manages VR and AR devices for more than eighty Fortune 500 companies. Previously sold SpringboardVR and Scissortail Media. Lives outside Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife and four kids. Read the post that started this: linkedin.com/in/willstackable If the eating disorder segment hit home, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders has a free helpline at allianceforeatingdisorders.com . SPONSORS - Get nutritional supplements that work as hard as you do: https://www.puristnutrition.com/#strongerweekly - Build a world-class home gym with Rep Fitness: https://www.repfitness.com/#strongerweekly - Bulletproof your drinking with Clutch; medication-assisted treatment from Oar Health: https://bit.ly/OarStrength FOLLOW US ON ALL PLATFORMS - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4at8Yhn - Spotify Podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3GAGVPJ - YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@StrongerWeekly - Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter: https://strongerweekly.com/ ______ The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches. You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around. Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life. Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes: - Health headlines, translated into what to actually do - Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting - Food for a family, not a bodybuilder - The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load - Experts who respect your time Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you. Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most. Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday. #StrongerWeekly #ScreenTime #DigitalMinimalism #Parenting #KidsAndPhones

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