In communities across Canada, parents are banding together to create cell phone-free cohorts of kids.
Inspired by Wait Until 8th in the United States, Unplugged Canada is asking parents to make a pledge to delay giving their kids smartphones until age 14. The group officially launched last weekend and has received 500 pledges so far.
Kirsten Sweet, a parent of two in St. Albert, Alta., said her local chapter started after a conversation in a dance studio’s waiting room for parents.
As their kids were moving through the first few years of elementary school, Sweet and five other moms shared a sense of worry about exposure to devices.
“The topic just kept coming up over and over again in different ways. And so we decided to learn a little bit more about it,” Sweet told CBC’s Edmonton AM.
They found documentaries like Childhood 2.0 and books like The Anxious Generation, which Sweet said opened her eyes to growing mental health issues in youth, addiction to social media, and attention fragmentation.
And then there’s the darker side of screen-use — increased rates of sextortion and cyberbullying.
“And then also just the opportunity cost,” Sweet said.
“Kids are spending five hours a day on social media, some of them. So if they’re doing that, then what are they not doing? They’re not sleeping, they’re not out in nature, they’re not getting physical activity or social interaction.”
The St. Albert group wanted to educate others and create community.
When they encountered Jenny Perez, a Vancouver parent who was trying to do the same thing on a national scale with Unplugged Canada, they decided to start a local chapter.
A few years ago, when Perez was concerned about her kindergarten-age daughter being given an iPad in school, she felt there must be other parents out there who shared her concerns, but couldn’t find them.
Perez said this fall, more parents are reassessing devices — especially with multiple provincial school cellphone bans coming into effect. She hopes Unplugged Canada can build on that momentum.
“I felt so alone for years in this battle … It was great to find passionate parents — knowing that you are not alone makes a difference,” Perez said.
“By spreading the word that this platform is there, they can just use it and use it as a tool in their own community to build a community to counter the pressure of, ‘You need to give a smartphone to your kid because otherwise they’re going to be isolated.'”
The pledge is designed to pair families who are choosing to go phone-free. Once five families in a grade in any particular school have made a pledge, the program connects them with one another.
Emma Duerden holds the Canada Research Chair in neuroscience and learning disorders at Western University, and said there’s a lack of research for when exactly kids should get a cellphone — but some call for delaying even further, until 16.
Duerden said with the lack of clear guidelines and regulation for online spaces, it isn’t surprising that Canadian parents are taking matters into their own hands.
But, she said, it’s increasingly difficult to circumvent the peer influence and pressure of having a smartphone.
“So while there are these grassroots organizations which are promoting limiting access to phones, it may just become the inevitable, and impossible for their children to be managing without a phone,” she said.
“I think having that solidarity, having social support, I think is definitely going to help.”
Why phones?
Asked why the pledge focuses on smartphones, and not iPads or tablets, Perez said it is a matter of practicality.
“I wanted to be realistic about the expectations and I wanted to have a battle where they had a chance.”
Duerden said that while other devices may share similar risks of online harm, kids don’t compulsively check them in the same way.
“Something that fits in someone’s pocket, it’s very easy to take out,” she said.
“Definitely, habitual checking of cell phones has been demonstrated to be associated with specific changes in brain regions involved in fear and anxiety and could place children at risk for mental health issues.”
Listen | Advocating for a phone-free childhood:
Edmonton AM7:01Some St. Albert parents are pledging to delay giving phones to their kids
A group of moms in St. Albert has created a new group called Unplugged St. Albert, to try to advocate for a phone-free childhood for children. Kirsten Sweet is one of six parents who founded the group.