Wait Until 8th, founded by Brooke Shannon, is a national campaign that empowers parents to rally together and delay giving their children a smartphone until at least the end of eighth grade.
Experts from child psychologists to internet safety leaders and technology executives agree that it is best to wait until at least age 14 before exposing children to smartphones, according to the Wait Until 8th website. Signing the Wait Until 8th pledge can decrease the pressure felt by parents and kids alike over having a smartphone.
There are more than 106,000 pledges across the U.S. Moorestown’s George Baker Elementary School is fully pledged, while South Valley is almost there, according to township residents Jamie Kastner and Cassie Tees. They are advocates for Wait Until 8th who came together to start the campaign in the township community.
By signing the online pledge, parents promise not to give their child a smartphone until at least the end of eighth grade as long as at least 10 families from their child’s grade and school pledge. Once that happens, Wait Until 8th will send a group email in one to two days to the families detailing how to rally other parents from their child’s school to sign the pledge.
“Good parenting is hard work, and your 8-year-old child or your 6-year-old child isn’t going to say, ‘Thank you for being the best, sturdy parent for me to navigate life,’” Kastner noted. “They’re going to have tantrums, they’re going to freak out, but you’re not, and you’re going to hold your ground, and in years to come, the payoff will be there because they’ll have so many other skills that they gained through years and years not being addicted to a device.
“It’s worth it.”
The Cherry Hill school district last year enacted its first ban on cellphones, smart watches, ear buds and wireless headphones during class instruction. Officials with the district said that the move is intended to help students focus in the classroom, according to NBC10 Philadelphia.
“If they’re doing that, that’s fantastic,” Tees pointed out. “Why are we not? We’re a town just like them. Then I started reading articles about Wait Until 8th … and over the last year, I’ve probably been talking to so many moms that are very receptive and think the same thing, that this technology that we’re putting in kids’ hands at such a young age is so scary …
“Those conversations just kept happening, and Jamie and I were thinking that now is a good jumping-off point to start spreading the word.”
If your child already has a smartphone, it’s not too late to join the movement. Parents can share with their child that many families in their grade have decided it’s better to wait to have a smartphone until the end of eighth grade. If your family is used to communicating with the phone and cannot reverse that, another option would be to replace a smartphone with a basic phone that just calls and texts.
There is also a list of smartphone alternatives on the Wait Until 8th website. Parents interested in learning more can visit www.waituntil8th.org. For the direct pledge link, visit https://waituntil8th.tfaforms.net/4.
Questions for Kastner and Tees can be directed to waituntil8thmoorestown@gmail.com. They have also created Instagram and Facebook pages for Moorestown’s Wait Until 8th campaign, and will be at Moorestown Day on Saturday, June 7, to spread awareness.
