When Your Kids Won’t Put Their Phones Down, with Oprah & Addiction Specialist Dr. Anna Lembke

Harpo

March 3, 2026

Show Notes

Millions of parents and educators are in an overwhelming struggle to get children and teens to put their smartphones down or stop watching a screen on a tablet. To uncover what is at the root of an issue that is wreaking havoc at home and at school, Oprah sits down with Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. Dr. Lembke, author of the New York Times mega-bestseller Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, explains why smartphones and tablets should be thought of as providing “digital drugs,” while describing the devastating impact these “drugs” are having on the still-developing brains of young people. Dr. Lembke and Oprah answer questions from mothers who are desperate for help managing their children’s screen addictions. Plus - British actress, Royal Family Member and Patron of Close Screens Open Minds Sophie Winkleman joins from London to talk about why she believes tech in schools has been disastrous for students and is destroying the education system from within.

'DopamineNation' by Anna Lembke

Chapters:

- Welcome Dr. Anna Lembke, author of “Dopamine Nation”

- Reframing digital media as a drug

- Smart phones are modern day hypodermic needles

- Addiction definition

- Kids experiencing craving and withdrawal

- Mom of 2 girls wants to know if they are addicted

- Managing teens devices

- How to help college-aged kids

- Actress Sophie Winkleman on ed tech

- Screens in schools