Daughter not allowed phone until age 13
Emma Thompson did not allow her daughter to have a phone until secondary school at age 13, as part of a deliberate approach to limit screen time.
Where this was said
Screen Time, Boredom, and the Lost Art of Doing Nothing
At 41:56 · chapter starts 40:45
Emma's discussion of her policy on television — she told her daughter the TV was broken for eight years, and held off on a phone until age 13 [1] — Emma Thompson "Emma Thompson asked the hosts a simple question: when did you last feel actually bored? The conversation that followed argued that boredom …" 41:40 — opens into the episode's most philosophical stretch. She asks all three hosts when they last felt genuinely bored. Jason answers immediately: this past weekend, indoors, rain, out of good TV, and he found it revelatory. He argues that true relaxation lives next door to boredom, and that is where clarity and nap time and right priorities emerge. Emma agrees that we have lost our relationship with boredom entirely — and that the smartphone generation cannot even ride an elevator without looking at their phone. [2] — Emma Thompson "Boredom is good for imagination: Emma Thompson argued that society has lost its relationship with boredom, which she and Jason Bateman both…" 41:45 Will admits, somewhat against the grain, that he is never bored — he simply doesn't feel it. Jason reframes boredom not as a pejorative but as a signal of high-functioning modern life that finally switches off.
Told daughter TV was broken for 8 years
Emma Thompson and her partner told their daughter the television was broken, a ruse the child believed for approximately eight years until she found the remote at around age nine.
The Boredom Conversation: A Lost Art
Emma Thompson asked the hosts a simple question: when did you last feel actually bored? The conversation that followed argued that boredom is not a problem to solve but a prerequisite for imagination, real relaxation, and mental clarity — something the smartphone generation has lost entirely.
Boredom is good for imagination
Emma Thompson argued that society has lost its relationship with boredom, which she and Jason Bateman both agreed is essential for imagination, relaxation, and mental clarity.
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