A guide for families everywhere
When Screens Go Quiet
The goal is more shared life.
A practical, evidence-based guide for parents and families navigating life as the world rethinks social media for the next generation. Seven steps toward more shared life, real belonging, and a home that flourishes.
In 2024, Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media. More countries are following. Wherever you are in the world, what families do next is what this book is about.
Not a lecture. Not a warning. A guide you can actually use.
Written for families living through this shift, When Screens Go Quiet brings together the latest research in adolescent development, digital wellbeing, and family resilience, and turns it into seven clear, actionable steps.
The social media ban removes a behaviour. This book helps rebuild what it eroded: shared time, real belonging, and a family life that isn't organised around a feed.
It's not about perfection. It's not about avoiding technology. It's about helping your family find its rhythm again, together.
Three ideas that change everything
Every chapter of When Screens Go Quiet grows from these three convictions, drawn from global child development research and grounded in the realities of everyday family life.
Connection over Consumption
Children don't just need less content. They need more people. Real belonging is built through shared experiences, not shared feeds.
Identity Beyond the Algorithm
A young person's sense of self was never meant to be curated by an algorithm. This book helps children rediscover who they are offline.
Community as the Antidote
Isolation was the real risk. Reconnection is the real solution. The families who flourish are the ones who rebuild their village, wherever in the world they are.
A guide you can actually use
Each chapter follows a simple rhythm: a story to ground you, the evidence to support it, and a practical way to bring it home — wherever home is.
Replacing the Scroll
What do children reach for when the scroll is gone? This chapter helps families build new rituals and rhythms that actually stick.
Relearning Belonging
Social connection didn't disappear with the app. This chapter helps children find their people again in the real world.
Boundaries That Build
Not all limits shrink a child. The right ones open space for them to grow. This chapter shows the difference.
When Behaviour Is a Signal
Withdrawal, frustration, and mood changes are often communication. This chapter helps parents learn to read what's really being said.
Raising Digitally Wise Children
The goal was never to raise children who avoid technology. It's to raise children who know how to use it well, and when to put it down.
Identity Beyond the Algorithm
Who is your child when no one is watching? This chapter helps families foster a sense of self that doesn't need an audience.
It Takes a Village Again
No family does this alone. This final chapter calls us back to the community structures that make flourishing possible for every child.
The 7-Day Family Reset
Seven nights. Seven conversations. One family reset.
A free, beautifully designed companion guide that walks your family through one meaningful conversation each evening for a week. No scripts. No pressure. Just prompts that open real dialogue between you and your kids.
Download it, print it, or work through it on your phone. It's yours, completely free.
The interactive version works like an app on any phone or tablet. Free, no login required.
Trusted by researchers, educators, and clinicians
Adolescents who engage in regular face-to-face social interaction report significantly higher levels of wellbeing than those whose primary social contact is screen-mediated, even when total social contact time is equivalent.
A timely and deeply humane guide for parents navigating one of the most consequential shifts of our time. Grounded in careful research yet written with compassion and hope.
Both timely and essential. This book not only unpacks the research behind Australia's social media ban, but also provides invaluable guidance on supporting children's development during these transitions.
Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Adjunct Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Western Australia
Honorary Research Associate, The Kids Research Institute, Perth Children's Hospital
A valuable and encouraging resource for parents. Through solid research, practical advice, and insightful reflections, it supports families in creating deeper connections that will help their children flourish.
Amit Khaira has written an important and thoughtful book on raising children in an age of social media. As a parent and practitioner, Amit gives clear guidance to making good choices.
Bring this conversation to your community
A parent forum meets your community where they are. Not a lecture — a real conversation. Parents leave feeling equipped and hopeful, and schools leave with a partner who understands the landscape.
Parent Forum
A 90-minute facilitated conversation for parents and carers, exploring practical tools for navigating family life as the world rethinks social media for young people. Includes Q&A, take-home resources, and the 7-Day Family Reset guide. Available with or without copies of the book for every family.
Staff Professional Development
A 90-minute session for teaching and support staff exploring the neuroscience and practical implications of the social media transition for students, families, and classroom culture. Evidence-based, practical, and grounded in wellbeing research.
Student Session
A 45-minute age-appropriate session for Years 7 to 10, helping young people understand the shift and develop their own sense of digital wisdom, identity, and belonging. Can be run alongside a parent forum for a whole-school approach.
Every engagement is shaped to your school's size, context, and community — wherever you are. Get in touch to start a conversation about what would work best for you.
Start a ConversationStart your family's next chapter
Available in print, eBook, and audiobook. In libraries across Australia and internationally.
eBook
Audiobook
Help more families access this resource
NXT Move Plus 8 Ltd is an ACNC-registered Health Promotion Charity. Our Gift It Forward giving programme is launching soon. To enquire about supporting library and school outreach across Australia, write to author@wsgq.live.
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Enquiries: author@wsgq.live