Clare Morell, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of “The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones” offers practical ways to keep smartphones at bay – lean into your community. Parents and caregivers have the power to stand up collectively to the problem of the relentless smartphone by creating communities that delay, resist, and ban screens from schools and communities. Read the article from the Washington Post here.

Preschool students see the beauty and wonder in the natural world

These parents started by rejecting the idea that kids have to have smartphones. They worked together to create opportunities for play and alternate activities that did not involve a phone, a screen, or video games. Parents offered each other the support and accountability to make it work, and the openness to discuss any problems that arose.

Morell writes, “The end result of these parents’ initiative and intentionality to create counter-communities is that their children are flourishing. They are not self-absorbed in the virtual world, but directed toward relationships, responsibilities and service to others. Only by building rich, meaningful real-world communities that can compete with the allure of digital ones can parents push the smartphone out of childhood.”

This can happen in a community setting, but it can also happen at a school. At Seattle Waldorf School, families are surrounded by like-minded teachers, administrators, and parents who aren’t afraid of technology, but who realize the significant impact technology can have on the developing mind and the addictive nature and isolation of the digital world. We strive to support children as they build their social/emotional and intellectual capacities without screens. Our students are happy, excited to come to school, and easily pick up new technologies when they are developmentally ready to handle the experience.