• Michaeleen Doucleff, author of "Dopamine Kids," wanted to wean her daughter off screens.
• She said the key was to replace screens with activities that genuinely motivated and excited her daughter.
• She also cut back on buying ultra-processed foods by having her daughter bake cookies from scratch.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Michaeleen Doucleff, the author of "Hunt, Gather, Parent" and "Dopamine Kids," released on March 3. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

Around the time my daughter, Rosy, was 4, we went to the beach. It was a really beautiful, sunny day, and I realized I couldn't enjoy it. She was having a great time building a sandcastle; I was sitting there checking my email, texts, and social media.

I felt this little hum of anxiety. Was she going to grow up without me being able to enjoy our lives together?

I started examining my own relationship to dopamine, the brain systems involved in reward and motivation, whether it is related to screens or ultra-processed foods. I realized that for me, these products were reclaiming the pleasure in our lives.

My life started to change when I set limits on screen time and processed snacks, swapping them for other activities and whole foods.

Then I wanted to help Rosy, who was 8 at the time.

I learned that a lot of the advice out there didn't work for me because it was based on research from 20 to 40 years ago. I kept trying things that I would read in parenting books, like "let children be bored." If I told Rosy to go to her room and play without screens, I'd just create a struggle. She'd crave screen time even more.

The truth is, parents are up against a lot. Apps, games, and ultra-processed foods are designed to keep us coming back. Research suggests that if parents don't have a clear mission for their families, it's much harder to keep impulses under control.

Luckily, research also suggests ways to change your child's relationship with screens. Here's how I got my daughter to swap them for activities that she enjoys.

I made a 'family dream list' to guide us

The first step is about taking back the wheel. That came with deciding what I wanted for my family. What was my dream?

Exploration is a fundamental need for my child, and I didn't want her to fulfill it with video games and social media. Instead, I wanted Rosy to enjoy being outside with her friends and going on adventures.

So one day, I said, "I'm going to teach you to do something you've been dying to do," which was riding a bike by herself to the market. We spent a few nights biking around everywhere until she felt comfortable on her own. Instead of watching YouTube videos of cartoon characters biking around, she could now do it herself.

Now that she's 10, biking is one of Rosy's favorite activities. She bikes to piano lessons and soccer practice. Sometimes, on Saturdays, she'll spend six hours biking with her friends, then come home exhausted and happy.

Leaning into her natural motivation

Dopamine plays a key role in motivation; it makes us seek out things that feel rewarding. To compete with screens, it helps to ride the motivational wave.

Once, we were in the cookie aisle of the grocery store. Rosy started begging for cookies because foods like that light up the brain's reward system. Instead of saying no to the cookies, I wanted to cultivate her desire to create a new habit.

I said, "OK, you can have the cookies, but you're going to bake the cookies all by yourself." I'd help her get started, and she learned how to use the mixer and oven.

When she finished baking the cookies, she ate only one or two. She wanted to save the rest because they were so precious to her. To this day, she's an amazing baker. A couple of months ago, she made a whole lasagna for dinner.

It turned out to be a great swap we made, both for cutting down on store-bought snacks and on screen time.

Micro-celebrations kept her going

The internet uses micro-celebrations: The little "ding" when you send a message, the hearts, the emojis. They seem very simple, and like they're not doing anything, but they're triggering a tiny bit of pleasure in our brains. It's the superglue that keeps us attached.

As a parent, I wanted to give Rosy similar micro-celebrations. When Rosy and I were first starting to bike around the neighborhood, every now and then I'd say, "Wow, this is really fun. I love this. This feels so good." It's just about sprinkling in a little bit of excitement.

Another really powerful micro-celebration parents can use is having the kid present what they made to you, whether it's a drawing or a craft. It creates an emotional payoff for the child, making them feel like they've done something important. It'll make them want to keep doing it more and more.

I set a price for screen time

Products like TVs and tablets are what I call "dopamine magnets"; they're incredibly hard to resist. We can't rely on willpower alone. Instead, we need very clear, simple rules that never change.

Almost every Saturday afternoon, Rosy would ask to watch a movie. Finally, I agreed, but with one new rule: She had to write a two-page summary of the last movie she watched, and present it to me.

At first, I was blown away. She ran to go do it — she was really willing to work to get this movie. Still, after a few times, she stopped asking for Saturday movies. She decided they weren't worth the price.

By then, we had other activities to replace the movie. On top of riding her bike, she was making a lot of crafts — embroidering, crocheting, and paper quilling.

Creating screen-free environments

What many people don't realize is that the pull happens before you use the device. Usually, there's some cue in your environment, such as the sight of your phone or the places you typically use it.

For example, a child might associate getting into the car with playing games on a tablet. Instead, you can change that to another activity. We bought a CD player for Rosy so she could listen to audiobooks on drives. It forces her to wait and listen to the book again, instead of us immediately buying a new one.

Without changing cues, parents may have to fight to pull their kids off screens or to police what they eat.

By using these behavioral principles, you can set up routines that help kids rely less on willpower alone. Over time, those pathways stick.

• Netflix just raised prices again, following in the footsteps of Disney+, HBO Max, and Peacock.
• Steady price increases from paid streamers may be helping fuel the growth of free services like YouTube.
• Netflix will still deliver viewers solid value on a cost-per-hour basis after the hike.

Netflix is fully aboard the stream-flation bandwagon.

The streaming giant just raised prices for its three plans, a little over a year after it last asked subscribers to pay more.

Netflix's standard ad-free plan now costs $19.99 a month, up from $17.99, while the premium 4K plan also got a $2 increase to $26.99 a month. The ad-supported Netflix subscription rose by a dollar to $8.99 a month.

While Netflix customers may complain about higher prices, most other major streamers have also steadily gotten more expensive.

Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, and Apple TV+ all raised prices last year following Netflix's January 2025 hike. Disney has raised the price of its flagship streaming service in each of the past four years.

Hollywood is trying to squeeze more money out of each streaming subscriber to improve or achieve profitability.

However, there are signs that consumers are sick of stream-flation.

Free streamers like YouTube have become increasingly popular in recent years, growing in viewership share on US TVs, as measured by Nielsen. Increased costs could be driving some consumers toward free streaming services ranging from the Roku Channel to Fox's Tubi.

The good news for Netflix is that it still looks like a solid deal for consumers after its latest round of price hikes.

Netflix's ad plan is cheaper than comparable plans for Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, and Peacock (it's the same price as Paramount+ and the stand-alone version of Amazon's Prime Video).

Netflix also offers a far larger library than most of its rivals and is watched more frequently than its peers. That made Netflix the best value by hours watched, UBS analysts wrote last year.

Still, the new price hike won't quiet the critics who said Netflix's failed pursuit of WBD was a sign the streamer was running short on avenues for organic user growth.

• The Property Brothers guide buyers in a tough housing market on "Property Brothers: Under Pressure."
• The Scotts said they noticed buyers now have less strict wish lists and tighter budgets.
• Below, they give buyers their tips for breaking into the market.

After renovating over 1,000 homes and filming more than 600 episodes of television about their exploits, Drew and Jonathan Scott — also known as the Property Brothers — have seen a lot of changes in real estate.

In their latest HGTV series, "Property Brothers: Under Pressure," the Scotts guide buyers through the process of purchasing a home and help them navigate all of the decisions that come with it — from renovating to adding other revenue streams like rentals to make payments more affordable.

"We didn't want anyone with grand budgets that could do anything," Jonathan told Business Insider of the type of buyer they chose to focus on. "We're showing relatable stories of every kind you can possibly imagine."

With record-low inventory and prices still falling slowly, the current real-estate market is tough. The Scotts want to show that the reality of homebuying these days comes with a lot of compromise.

"With these budgets, people have the dream look, or the dream function in their home — they're not getting that," Drew told Business Insider. "We're trying to make the best that we can with what they have, and we don't want people to feel they're settling. We want people to still love where they're going to live."

Below, the Scotts give homebuyers tips on what to consider when buying a home in a brutal market.

Consider what home features are the most conducive to your lifestyle.

For the Scott brothers, a home isn't simply a place to rest your head; it should also be a space that complements your lifestyle.

"Take a few minutes to actually sit down and think through your lifestyle," Drew said. "Where are the friction points within your day? Are you finding that you're getting tripped up when you're getting the kids ready for school or organizing their play area? Is it laundry? Is it the kitchen? Think through what would actually make life easier, because your home should work to make your life easier. We always reverse engineer from there."

It's not just about being in a neighborhood that's closer to your work or having a dedicated parking space. What you spend your money on outside of your home should also be a huge deciding factor in if you're ready to become a homebuyer.

"Do you want to travel with your family, do you need extra money for different things?" Jonathan said. "If that's the most important thing, maybe renting is better for you at this time. But if we can help people into home ownership, we obviously love to do that."

Don't assume you can handle a fixer-upper on your own.

Getting into DIY with a fixer-upper can be an exciting and rewarding project. But the Scotts say it's best to consult with professionals first, not only to protect yourself in the event of safety concerns, but also financial ones.

"If you don't renovate houses for a living, you probably shouldn't do your own renovation," Jonathan said. "I think a lot of people are trying to save money anywhere they can, but what they try to do is they save money in areas where you need someone to protect you to make sure you're not overspending. We see that all the time."

The brothers warned that not everyone who posts a renovation video online is a professional, and social media is littered with inaccurate information about the specifics of home-renovation projects.

"Just be careful what you try and tackle yourself," Drew said.

"The internet may be good for you finding a date, maybe not so good if you're trying to redo your electrical — that's dangerous," Jonathan added.

Be more realistic with your wishlist.

A common trope of homebuying starts with a wishlist: prime location, under budget, and with plenty of space. But more often than not, you won't end up in a place that checks every box.

The brothers said they've been asked countless times over the course of their careers to make miracles happen, but if you're serious about buying a home, you need to be more realistic.

"Sometimes people ask for stuff that is crazy and we're like, 'There's just literally no way this is going to be within your budget,'" Jonathan said. "And a lot of times that ends up being location based. They'll ask for a location that we just know the inventory's so low, the prices are so high. It's going to mean you'll find the place and you'll have zero money to customize it."

The tough current market also means buyers may have to revisit some of the things they considered dealbreakers.

"In multiple episodes this season, there was a train right behind the property thundering by multiple times a day," Jonathan said. "Most people have been like, 'Absolutely not,' but for one couple on the show, they couldn't afford a house that was big enough on a quiet cul-de-sac. People are definitely changing what their must-haves and no-gos are."

Watch out for shoddy work in quick flips.

While Drew and Jonathan mostly advise against tackling large renovation projects without consulting professionals, some people do it anyway.

Not all home flips include bad work, but some do — and sometimes, you may not notice that until it's too late.

"We see this in LA all the time. It's a flip market where people do a really terrible lipstick-on-a-pig kind of a renovation job," Jonathan said. "To the average homeowner, it looks amazing — new materials, this is awesome. It's not until they move into it that they realize how completely un-functional it is."

The Scotts acknowledged shows like theirs may have had the unintended effect of making viewers think they could do their own renovations.

"Networks like this have given some people a false sense of confidence to say, 'I know what this needs, I know how to do this project,'" Drew said. "I've had people walk up to me on the street and say, 'Hey, I'm a general contractor, and by the way, thanks a lot. You're making it real tough because now people think they know everything.'"