Waveform – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Waveform

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

podcast2019

86%

WISE Score

Marques Brownlee and crew talk gadgets, car tech, and why your next phone might be a folding slab of glass—perfect for the kid who knows more about EVs than you do.

Waveform

podcast

Clean, 2019

86%

WISE Score

Marques Brownlee and crew talk gadgets, car tech, and why your next phone might be a folding slab of glass—perfect for the kid who knows more about EVs than you do.

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Screenwise Verdict

If you have a kid obsessed with specs, YouTube reviewers, or the latest Tesla update, this is the gold standard. It is smart tech media that avoids the brain-rot common in the gadget-influencer space.

Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) has built a reputation on being the most level-headed guy in the room, and that carries over here. It’s essentially a weekly masterclass in consumer electronics and critical thinking. It's safe, it's smart, and it's one of the few things you can listen to with a teenager that won't make either of you want to jump out of the car.

Age Fit

Best for middle schoolers and up who are actually curious about how things are made. Younger kids will find the specs-heavy talk boring unless they're already mini-engineers.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Marques Brownlee and his co-hosts model professional, calm, and articulate discourse. It is the antithesis of the loud, clickbaity tech culture found elsewhere on the internet.

Imaginative

While it is a news and review show, it frequently explores 'what if' scenarios regarding future technology, design philosophy, and the creative engineering behind gadgets.

Safe

Extremely safe for car rides or home listening. Language is very clean, and topics are strictly limited to technology, business, and consumer electronics without mature themes.

Enriching

Excellent for developing tech literacy. It explains the 'why' behind product design and the economic forces that shape the gadgets we use every day.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Builds serious tech literacy beyond just knowing how to open an app.
Models professional, articulate debate without the usual internet screaming matches.
Explains the business and engineering trade-offs of everyday objects in a way that makes sense.
Great for kids interested in industrial design, software engineering, or entrepreneurship.

⚠

What to Watch For

The episodes are long—often over an hour—which might test the patience of younger listeners.
It is very 'inside baseball' for tech nerds; if your kid doesn't care about camera sensors or EV range, they'll be bored to tears.

Conversation Starters

"If you could design one feature for a phone that doesn't exist yet, what would it be?"
"Why do you think Marques liked that specific gadget we just heard about while other reviewers hated it?"
"Do you think AI is actually making these products better or just more expensive?"
"What's one piece of tech you think will be totally obsolete by the time you're 20?"

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