6 months ago
19
Kiley DeMarco recently attended Safety Night at her children's public elementary school on Long Island in New York. As she walked around different booths learning about how to protect her children, one station caught her eye: A parent was asking other
parents
to take a
pledge
not to give their children
smartphones
until the end of eighth grade.
DeMarco has two children, one in kindergarten and one in first grade.
Like many parents, she has already read books and research arguing that smartphones, and the
social media
apps on them, drastically increase anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts in teenagers. Asking parents in the same school to commit to holding back phones until a certain age made sense to her. "It means there is no gray area," she said. "There is a clear grade level when they get the phone." The idea of acting collectively made her feel more confident that she could keep her commitment. "Down the road, when my kids start begging for phones, we can say we signed this pledge and we are sticking to it," she said.
In schools and communities across the country, parents are signing documents pledging not to give their children smartphones until after middle school. The idea, organisers say, is that if parents take action together, their children are less likely to feel isolated because they aren't the only ones without TikTok in their pockets.
Considering the prevalence of smartphone use among young people, it's a bold step: Research shows that half of children in the US own cellphones by age 11 - roughly fifth or sixth grade. According to Zach Rausch, an associate research scientist at New York University who studies child and adolescent mental health, case-by-case decisions not to have a smartphone or social media can be "risky" for individual children. "They are saying, 'I might be banished from all my friends and my social network'," he said. "But if the parents collectively work together, it will reduce a lot of conflict. It won't be, 'My friend has this, but I don't.'"
Many groups of parents are drawing on a playbook created by 'Wait Until 8th', an organisation that helps parents collect no-phone pledges from their children's classes at school. Fifty-four pledges in 16 states were created in April alone.
But there has been resistance too. There are parents who feel the need to be in touch with their children, especially since America witnesses school attacks. To address those concerns, the organisation includes a list of devices on its website that allow parents to text their children but don't allow access to social media. If smartphones are off the table, dumber devices may be the solution, it says.
