Originally published on 8/7/25

Mel Robbins is a 56-year-old podcast host, #1 New York Times bestselling author and mom of three who helps women all over the world become the very best versions of themselves by using techniques such as her beloved “Let Them Theory” and must-try 5-second rule. And now she’s gearing up to help them deal with another issue troubling both parents and kids: phone usage. Woman’s World recently sat down with Robbins to learn her must-try tips for how to finally unplug—and yes, some of it does involve “not sleeping with your phone.” Read on for more. 

Mel Robbins shares tips for how to unplug 

Fresh off the international success of her The Let Them Theory book, Robbins has teamed up with the popular phone service company Verizon to help launch Verizon Unplugged, which centers on teaching parents, children, and older adults methods for setting down their phones and staying safe online. 

“The focus of it is really to help provide people with tools, strategies and best practices to safeguard their digital wellness,” Donna Epps, Verizon’s Chief Responsible Business Officer, told Woman’s World. 

For Robbins specifically, she is sharing her must-try trips with people centered on unplugging both themselves and their families. This includes things like no phones at the dinner table or in bed—the latter of which she recognizes is super hard for people to do. 

“When I’m going to bed, I take my phone with me, and it’s so easy to crawl in bed, because you’re going to use your phone as your alarm clock,” she said. “So I’ve had to develop a habit where I have to plug the phone in away from my bed so that I can’t lie there and reach for it because I will. I absolutely will. And so that has been the harder one for me.” 

Robbins also said that while you can encourage your children to unplug and not take their phone to bed or dinner, if parents themselves aren’t doing it, it doesn’t matter. 

“Most parents, if you’re honest with yourself, you are constantly on the phone, and you have no phone life balance, and you blame it on work or you blame it on something else. And so it starts with you,” the 56-year-old explained. “Here’s a simple test. I want you to stand in a grocery store line and not look at your phone. You will immediately notice how much you reach for it mindlessly. And so when you start to separate the constant reflex of grabbing for it, and you build a better boundary and balance yourself. Now you’re in a position to help your kids do it, but if you’re not present, first, it’s not going to happen, and nobody wants to hear that.” 

If she does reach for her phone, though, Robbins said she’s most likely on Slack or Waze, rather than on the budgeting or food calorie tracking apps. 

“I ignore that one,” she joked. 

Mel Robbins opens up about her own family 

Robbins has three children—Sawyer, Kendall and Oakley—and according to her, before she started listening to them, she never fully understood why they spent so much time on their phones. 

“We had big battles over the fact that I was ripping the phone out of my son’s [Oakley] hands. He was like, wanting it to stay with him, and I’m like, ‘Can you just tell me? Why are you on the phone? Why do you need to sleep with your phone? And what he said surprised me. He said, ‘I feel like I need to be available for my friends. I have a friend going through a breakup. I have a friend who’s fighting with their parents right now, and they’ve been texting me about it. I’ve been doing homework, and I just feel like I need to be there for them,’’ Robbins said. 

“I never realized that the kids felt pressure to be available to their friends, as if they were being hassled. You’re not available. And so we use this approach to problem-solve the situation and basically say, ‘Well, what do you want to do about it?’ For instance, if I take the phone, that’s going to make it easier, because then you can blame me and say, ‘My mom takes the phone when it slides out, and that’s what we do in our house,” she continued.

“I didn’t know that it was the pressure to feel available. I made the assumption that they just had no boundaries with their phone, and they were a kid who couldn’t handle themselves, because we then judge, right? However, you don’t connect on a deeper level, and you don’t actually learn.” 

Speaking of family, Robbins also shared that once they started connecting more in person, their digital life, specifically the Robbins family group chat, also began to grow. 

“They would kill me if I shared our favorite moments. That’s where it’s like, full-on debauchery,” she said with a laugh. “Our favorite thing to do is to turn people into stickers. Oakley sent a series of videos the other day where he’s making bread, and then his sister turned it into a sticker, which will then become something that we can stick on other things. So we just constantly have fun there.”

To learn more about Verizon Unplugged, click here! 

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/celebrities/mel-robbins-new-theory-unplugging