Julia Roberts on Why Daughter Hazel Stopped Using Smartphone

Julia Roberts revealed that a simple movie night led to a big decision with her daughter, Hazel Moder. She gave away her smartphone after watching Stand By Me, which was released in 1986.

The actress shared the instance while she was promoting her new project, After the Hunt. She explained that the film made Hazel rethink phones and how they could affect real conversations.

Julia Roberts explains why her daughter Hazel handed her smartphone

Julia Roberts recalled watching Stand By Me with her daughter, Hazel Moder. After the movie was over, her daughter turned to her and asked to take away her smartphone.

Roberts told The New York Times, “For some reason, I was thinking this morning about when my kids were young and we showed them Stand by Me, and our daughter said to me, ‘I’m going to give you my phone.’ And I said, ‘OK. What do you want me to do with it?’ She said, ‘You just keep it. I don’t want it. Seeing that movie, I just thought if those boys had phones, they wouldn’t be talking to each other like that. They wouldn’t have gone looking for that body, they wouldn’t sit around the fire and share these stories.’”

Roberts reflected on how screen time changes a family’s dynamics. The actress expressed how she and her husband, Danny Moder, have strict rules regarding the same at their home. They do not allow phones at the dinner table and have a designated charging station for phones.

Aware of how the digital space can be too much, especially for kids who are growing and still developing, Roberts stated that children need hands-on and outdoor experiences.

She explained, “Our brains are incapable of that influx. Our eyeballs, brains, all that is too much, especially for little, sweet, soft mushy brains, that need to be filled instead with mud and fields.”

Originally reported by Preksha Sharma on ComingSoon.

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