During a family movie night, Julia Roberts and her daughter, Hazel Moder, watched the 1986 film Stand By Me, which sparked a meaningful conversation about technology. This experience led Hazel to decide to give up her smartphone, highlighting the impact of the movie on her perception of how phones influence communication.
While promoting her new film, After the Hunt, Roberts shared how the movie made Hazel rethink the role of phones in real-life interactions, ultimately prompting her to hand over her device.
Julia Roberts Shares Her Daughter’s Reasoning Behind Giving Up Her Phone
Julia Roberts reflected on the moment Hazel requested to hand over her smartphone right after they finished watching Stand By Me. She recalled Hazel’s belief that the boys in the film formed their friendship and embarked on adventures because they didn’t have phones to distract them.
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.’
— Julia Roberts, actress
How Julia Roberts and Danny Moder Manage Technology at Home
Concerned about the influence of screen time on family connections, Roberts and her husband, Danny Moder, enforce strict rules to limit phone use. They prohibit phones at the dinner table and maintain a specific charging station away from common areas, encouraging face-to-face interaction instead of screen distractions.
Roberts emphasized the need for children to have real-world experiences rather than excessive exposure to digital devices, especially as they grow and develop.
The Impact of Technology on Children’s Development
Julia Roberts expressed worries about the overwhelming influx of digital content on young brains, stressing that children require more tactile and outdoor play to support healthy growth.
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.
— Julia Roberts, actress
This stance reflects growing concerns about screen time’s effects on child development and highlights Roberts’ commitment to fostering a more natural environment for her children. Hazel’s choice to give up her smartphone serves as a powerful example of questioning technological dependence and prioritizing authentic human connection.
