Why Kids Melt Down When Screens Turn Off (And How to Calm the Chaos) | Gabie Izralson PsyD

There have been moments where I’ve told my kids to turn off their screens and instantly regretted it — not because I didn’t mean it, but because I knew what was coming next: the tears, the frustration, the full emotional unraveling. For a long time, I felt powerless against the pull of screens. But as Dr. Gabie Izralson reminded me, we’re actually the ones in control. Once I reframed that, everything shifted. I stopped seeing screens as the enemy and started seeing them as something we could manage — with structure, communication, and a little more grace for everyone involved.