Savannah Guthrie Discusses Phone Usage Agreement with Daughter

Savannah Guthrie has been thinking deeply about how to navigate technology in her daughter’s life.

On a recent episode of “Today” featuring Jenna Bush Hager, the co-anchor shared details about a phone usage agreement she formulated for her 11-year-old daughter, Vale. Guthrie noted, “My daughter recently got her own iCloud address, and I actually put together a contract for her to sign.”

“I remember that feeling,” Jenna Bush Hager, her co-host, chimed in.

Guthrie elaborated, saying the contract includes reminders for Vale that, “I know Mom and Dad love me more than anything,” and, importantly, “I know they can read my texts. I shouldn’t say anything in a message that I wouldn’t want my grandma or grandpa to see. Or, you know, something that could end up on the front page of the New York Times.”

Guthrie clarified that Vale only has an iCloud address and does not yet have an iPhone.

She emphasized that Vale understands that she reserves the right to monitor her texts, adding, “I trust her skills in navigating this.” This whole idea brings up a lot of discussion around privacy and trust in parenting.

Interestingly, Guthrie mentioned that even though she has access to her daughter’s iCloud messages, she probably won’t actually look at them. “I think the term ‘snooping’ feels a bit negative,” she remarked, suggesting instead that she prefers to think of it as “watching” or “parenting.”

While Guthrie has expressed a desire for her children to hold off on phones for now, she conceded that things might change when they reach 16.

Guthrie, who has been with NBC’s “Today” since June 2011, shares two children with her husband, Michael Feldman.

Meanwhile, Hager noted that when she turned 10, she initiated a similar contract for her own daughter, nine-year-old Poppy Louise Hager.

She humorously mentioned needing to recreate that original contract unless something can be pulled up in her phone’s texts.

“I actually get Poppy’s messages because everyone seems to use my number,” Hager shared.

Additionally, Hager talked about her eldest child, Mira, receiving her iCloud address around the same age as Poppy is now.

Notably, Hager is the granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush and the daughter of George W. Bush. She and her husband, Henry Hager, have three children: Mira, Poppy, and Hal. They met while working on a reelection campaign in 2004.