In parenthood, there's so much fear around parenting in this day

When Rosemarie DeWitt spoke the words: “In parenthood, there’s so much fear around parenting in this day and age, and there’s so much fear around technology,” she gave voice to a burden that weighs heavily on the hearts of modern mothers and fathers. Her words echo the eternal anxiety of parents — the deep desire to protect their children — but with a new edge sharpened by the age of screens and invisible networks. In ages past, parents feared wolves at the door, famine in the fields, or wars at the borders. Today, they fear what cannot always be seen: the glow of devices, the whispers of the internet, the unseen influences shaping their children’s minds.

The fear of parenting is ancient, for no generation has ever felt fully ready to prepare its young for the unknown future. Each parent gazes into the eyes of their child and wonders: Am I enough? Will I guide them well? Will the world break them? DeWitt reminds us that this age intensifies those questions, for alongside the timeless trials of raising children comes a new adversary: technology. Unlike the dangers of old, it does not strike from without but creeps silently within the home, carried in pockets and glowing on screens.

Consider the story of Socrates, who feared the written word when it first spread across Greece. He worried that writing would erode memory, that children would no longer learn by dialogue but rely on external marks on paper. His fears, though ancient, mirror today’s anxieties about smartphones, social media, and endless digital distractions. Each generation faces the same question in a different form: will the tools we create to aid us ultimately weaken us? DeWitt’s words remind us that the fear around technology is not new, but an old echo in a new form.

Yet this fear, though heavy, is not entirely dark. Fear is the shadow of love. Parents fear technology not because it is inherently evil, but because they long to preserve the innocence and strength of their children. They worry that attention spans will shrink, that compassion will dim, that reality will be swallowed by illusion. These fears, though sometimes exaggerated, spring from the same place as all parental anxiety: the fierce desire to shield one’s child from harm. Thus, to fear is to love, but to let fear govern entirely is to wound love itself.

The meaning of DeWitt’s quote lies in balance. Fear must be acknowledged, but not allowed to consume. To parent in this era is to walk between vigilance and trust. One cannot shield a child forever from technology, just as one cannot shield them forever from the world. The task is not to banish, but to guide — to teach discernment, moderation, and wisdom in the face of tools more powerful than any before. The wise parent learns not only to warn but also to model, to show by their own example how technology can serve rather than enslave.

The lesson is clear: parents must not allow fear to become despair. Instead, let fear awaken responsibility and creativity. Acknowledge the dangers, but also seek the opportunities. For every device that tempts with distraction, there is one that teaches, connects, or inspires. To raise children today is to prepare them not by hiding them from the tools of their age, but by equipping them with the strength to master those tools.

Practical actions flow from this wisdom: create times when the family puts aside devices and returns to face-to-face conversation. Teach children early that technology is a servant, not a master. Replace fear with dialogue, asking them what they see, what they feel, what they learn. And most of all, do not let fear sever trust. For children who grow up under constant suspicion learn secrecy, but those who grow up with guidance learn integrity.

So let DeWitt’s words echo across generations: in parenthood there is always fear, but in this day and age, fear has taken a new form. Do not despise the fear, for it reveals your love, but do not bow to it either, for it may blind you. Instead, transform fear into wisdom, and let wisdom be the guide. For the future belongs not to those who flee technology, nor to those who embrace it blindly, but to those who raise children with courage, discernment, and love unafraid.