That camping trip your family still talks about? Science says it’s worth more than any toy under the tree.
Aaron Paul is giving parents everywhere a masterclass on how to be more present with their kids.
And it’s something he had to learn the hard way.
The 46-year-old actor, best known for his role as Jesse Pinkman in “Breaking Bad,” recently opened up about a time when he wasn’t quite present enough for his daughter in an interview with WSJ Tech Live.
Paul recalled being on his iPhone as he scrolled through emails when his daughter ran into the room.
“She’s asking me a question, and I’m trying to just finish this quick company email. She stopped asking and went and started playing,” he said of the moment. “She’s 7, this was when she was 6.”
Paul went on to say that he immediately put his phone down before making a pact with his daughter.
“I went to her, and I go, ‘I want to say I’m sorry for not being responsive to you. I want to promise Daddy’s not going to be on his phone when he’s with you anymore,’” he said in the interview, published Nov. 7.
READ MORE: Lainey Wilson reveals why she hopes her future kids choose nature over screen time
“She looks at me, she goes, ‘Really?’ It broke my heart,” he continued. “I go, ‘I promise you I won’t.’ And she jumped up and threw her arms around me. She won the biggest prize.”
The “Black Mirror” actor, who shares two kids — daughter Story Annabelle, 7, and son Ryden Caspian, 3 — with wife Lauren Parsekian, added that parents “owe it” to their kids to be more present in their lives.
Aaron Paul reveals the one reason he still has a smartphone
Elsewhere in the interview, Paul admitted that he prefers to use a Light Phone over a smartphone.
While he still owns an iPhone, he said it’s a phone that his “buddy dropped in a swamp.” Paul retrieved the phone three days later, but his friend told him to keep it because he had already gotten a new one.
He went on to joke that he calls the phone “Swampy” — and uses it sparingly.
READ MORE: How Much Screen Time Should Young Kids Have? Children's YouTuber Ms. Rachel Weighs In
“I mainly use my Light Phone, but I FaceTime my kids when I’m away working, so I have that with my iPhone,” he said of the smartphone.
Paul, who hasn’t owned a computer in 15 years, is a noted critic of technology and artificial intelligence.
He described smartphones as an “acceptable drug that is actually causing damage in our brain” and said it’s “so sad” how disconnected many people — especially parents — are as a result of it.
Aaron Paul and wife Lauren Parsekian met in 2010, got engaged in 2012 and tied the knot in 2013, according to People.
In his interview with WSJ Tech Live, Paul touched on the negative effects of social media on young kids.
“My wife’s in the school system, and she runs a nonprofit,” he said of Parsekian. “She talks to young girls about the effects of bullying within their school hallways and just how dangerous it is.”
“With social media, the mental health in these kids and adults has just skyrocketed,” he added.
ALSO ON MOD MOMS CLUB: Model Miranda Kerr Shares the Screen Time Rule She Enforces on Her Four Children
Aaron Paul’s wife founded the Kind Campaign, a nonprofit organization that aims to end girl-on-girl bullying, in 2009 with her friend and former college classmate Molly Thompson.
