Wait Until 8th

A popular and healthy trend is moving among families of pre-teens teens called "Wait Until 8th." According to their website, the "Wait Until 8th pledge empowers parents to rally together to delay giving children a smartphone until at least the end of 8th grade. Let’s protect the elementary and middle school years from the distractions and the dangers of a smartphone. Banding together helps decrease the pressure to have a phone at an early age. Ten years old is the average age children get their first smartphone. You can change this!"

The founders describe how "parents feel powerless in this uphill battle and need community support to help delay the ever-evolving presence of the smartphone in the classroom, social arena and family dinner table. Link arms with other parents to wait until at least the end of eighth grade for a smartphone!"

An effective starting strategy is for parents to begin having intentional discussions about their family media plan while their children are still young. Our kids grow up fast! Without a plan, often unintended unhealthy influences can be introduced into our homes. Presenting a thoughtful consistent plan to children early on can help temper future disagreements regarding the timing of smartphone ownership. 

Expanding these conversations with other families your children spend time with can also be immensely fruitful. So often we as parents feel like we are parenting on an island, combatting the secular culture on our own. Developing a community built upon similar values and principles is so helpful for encouragement and accountability. While our children may disagree with our strategies at times, their experience of receiving care, structure, and safety certainly transcends any selfish or hurt feelings.

Still, it isn't easy. I value my personal "me" time and devices in our home allow others to be largely distracted and stay out of my way (I'm only human). But to combat this unhealthy reality, we have strict time usage and a restricted schedule on the smartphone I have entrusted to my 16-year-old son. Regularly he and I are forced to re-engage with one another in meaningful ways when his smartphone access has come to an end.

Whether it is "Wait Until 8th" or some other strategy, failure to plan is planning to fail. Today's children require time reserved for play, inquiry, discussion, exploration, and dare I say, "boredom." As our friends from "Wait Until 8th" understand, "Childhood is too short to waste on a smartphone!"