Four Foundational Norms To End The Phone-Based Childhood:
#4: More Independence, Free Play, and Responsibility in the Real World
Kids develop social skills and overcome anxiety naturally through independence and unsupervised play. This means letting them do more activities and errands on their own, unsupervised, in the real world.
Recommended Action:
“There’s something kids love more than phones: Free play and independence”
Next Step Recommendations:
Facilitate Play-Based Activities in Your Community: Kids develop social skills and overcome anxiety naturally through independence and unsupervised play. This is centuries-old science. This means letting them do more activities and errands on their own, unsupervised, in the real world.
Develop Your Play Toolkit, OutsidePlay.org. A great tool to create a personalized journey for risky play and independence for your kids.
Start a (Block) Party!, Block Party USA. A reminder of an old fashioned idea, neighbors gathering around the street in lawn chairs.
Kids Free Play Rules Sample, Heed The Children. A sample guide to organizing meaningful free play for kids at local parks.
Become an Activist: Lend your hand and voice to help local and national legislators pass laws to protect childhood from the grips of Technology overreach. These organizations are already in the arena and would love your help.
Read:
The Decline of Play, Peter Gray (TED Talk). Peter is the leading researcher on effects of play. Here he outlines how society has pushed play to the sidelines over the past few decades.
Why Children Need Risk, Fear, and Excitement in Play, Mariana Brussoni. A fantastic overview of the paradox parents have between wanting to keep our children safe, and holding them back by our own anxieties.
Common Child Safety Myths and Facts, Let Grow. Let Grow does a fantastic job of busting the myths around child safety. It’s the safest time in decades!
Four Foundational Norms to Reclaim Childhood
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1. Delay Smartphones Until At Least High School
Link up with the parents of your child’s friends to commit together to waiting until high school (at least) before giving a smartphone.
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2. Delay Social Media Until At Least 16
Social media platforms expose children to a wide variety of harms, there is no way to make it appropriate for children. Link up with the parents of your child’s friends to commit together to not allowing your children to open social media accounts until at least 16.
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3. Phone Free Schools
Gather local parents together to sign and send a petition to your school’s leadership asking for the school to go phone-free and to offer more free play and independence
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4. More Independence, Free Play and Responsibility in the Real World
Kids develop social skills and overcome anxiety naturally through independence and unsupervised play. This means letting them do more activities and errands on their own, unsupervised, in the real world.
Collective action gives parents a Technology off ramp they don’t have as an individual.
That’s what the #FourNormsChallenge does. When we band together, we flip the cultural norms away from Technology first, and toward Childhood first.
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We’re trapped in a system that everyone hates. Parents are struggling, teachers hate it, and our kids are suffering. Meanwhile Tech Companies are pulling in the most profits in the history of the market on the backs of our attention and engagement. The way out is to raise our voices together, through collective action. That’s what the #FourNormsChallenge does.
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Parents deserve a voice into our cultural norms.. Our mission is 100,000 parents committing to the spirit of the Four Foundational Norms to reclaim childhood in the real world.
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There are already amazing organizations tackling every segment of the Four Foundational Norms for Solving Collective Action Problems introduced by Jonathan Haidt in his groundbreaking book The Anxious Generation. We provide a path forward, making it easy to take those actions.
FAQs
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By far the biggest strain on modern parenthood is Tech related. It’s not the only challenge, but it exacerbates most of the others. Further, Tech platforms are relentless in their pursuit of our attention. This creates a scenario where it’s very difficult for individual parents to thrive. It’s important in this moment to take action together, to reclaim our connection with our children in a digital world.
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Parents of all school-aged children who have concerns about how Technology and Social Media are impacting their family.
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Of course. Visit our How It Works section to find links to learn more about each organization and solution.
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Start here, with the 1st norm, and walk through each one to see more resources and actions to take.
We will be adding more ideas and actions soon. For now, we recommend checking out all of the great organztions listed over on The Anxious Generation website.