Hey there! I’m Dr. Roxanne Etta, you can call me Roxy. I am a mom with twin toddler daughters born in June 2020 and a baby coming April 2023! I was born and raised in Wisconsin and grew up on a small farm in the countryside. Now I live in a capital city and try to venture out of my 900-square foot house with my family as much as possible. During the week, I spend my days working at a University preschool where I facilitate research studies with young children and teach undergraduate courses. On the weekends, you’ll catch me at the local botanical garden, museums, bakeries, or farmers market. We’re a pretty active and outdoorsy family but really love staying in to play a new board game or snuggle up for a movie night.

I went to college and grad school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Human Development & Family Studies with a specific emphasis in children’s media. Growing up, my parents sometimes worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. While they were working, I’d often watch public TV to keep myself occupied. I firmly believe that the educational content I learned through TV helped shape who I am today. 

Through my first-hand experience, I entered college curious about whether and how kids benefit from media use. As a first-generation college student I had no idea how to turn this interest into a major or career path. But I thankfully found my home in the Cognitive Development and Media Lab where I studied how children play and learn in the digital age. I specifically studied how young children learn from digital materials compared to non-digital materials, like eBooks versus print books.

Throughout my extensive training I have gained a deep understanding of the research and best practice around children’s digital media, and more broadly child and family well-being. I’m proud of the amazing experiences this expertise has given me, such as teaching courses in Child Development and Research Methods at my university, authoring research articles and book chapters about children’s media, and even reviewing new episodes of popular kids’ tv shows. But what I’m most proud of are the smaller moments along the way, like the one-on-one conversations I’ve had with parents who feel relieved, empowered, or inspired by learning what research really says on kids’ media. I am dedicated to sharing the knowledge I have with those who matter most in shaping kids’ lives – parents. That is why I’m so excited to partner up with Liz and launch Those Media Moms.

My biggest motivation for creating Those Media Moms is to share balanced, research-based media advice with real-world applications. There’s so much information (and misinformation) scattered on the internet about children and screens. It’s overwhelming to figure out what to believe and what to do. We want to make it easier for you. That’s why we’re working to make Those Media Moms a centralized, trustworthy source for parents to easily access and understand the ever-evolving research and best-practices about children’s media use. Our goal is to help you to stress less about media and choose better content that fits your unique family values.