Social Media

We often fantasize about raising our kids in a simpler, screen-free world. Daniel Sieberg, Google exec and author of The Digital Diet, is more realistic: He simply advocates a thoughtful and measured use of digital devices. We chatted with the father of two about finding a balance between i-addiction and going cold turkey on technology.

What made you realize you needed to change your relationship to digital technology?

It was during the holidays in 2009, when I was visiting family and friends back home in Canada. Despite feeling like the most connected person on the planet, I had somehow lost touch with what was happening in the lives of people I cared about. I had become a terrific broadcaster and a terrible communicator. That, plus my wife repeatedly referring to me as “glowworm,” since my face was always illuminated by some kind of screen while lying in bed — something that does not lend itself to intimacy. Ahem.