Resources
The idea behind Kids For Now is to encourage parents to connect and build local communities to delay smartphones and help keep kids off social media. You to make those connections. Talk with other parents and let them know about your decision to delay. Starting the conversation may seem daunting, but remember, you’re not trying to change anyone’s point of view. You just need to connect with the parents who are already uneasy about smartphones. Other parents will be glad to know that that your child won’t be getting a smartphone any time soon. Many will jump on-board.
Here are some resources to help.
Other organisations
Smartphone Free Childhood
Thousands of people have joined the conversation online since Kids For Now mums, Daisy and Clare, shared their WhatsApp group publicly! Find your regional WhatsApp group at Smartphone Free Childhood.
Delay Smartphones
Delay Smartphones is a UK-based charity campaigning to raise awareness among parents about the harms caused by smartphones. Parents can pledge to delay smartphones until the age of 14.
Teched-Off
TECHED OFF is a UK-based website with videos and events to help make a safer online environment for children.
Wait Until 8th
Based in the USA, Wait Until 8th website has great resources and a blog.
Don’t Press Send
HOODIES AND T-SHIRTS FOR SALE!
Also in the USA, Don’t Press Send is campaign by author Katie Schumacher. Her excellent book informs adults and teens about the dangers of social media for young people and how to use it positively. She also now has a new book for younger children, bye-Bye Wi-Fi. They run an educational programme for positive reform of social media and Katie is available for talks and presentations.
Take The Pledge
Inspired by the Wait Until 8th pledge, this website was started by parents from Notting Hill Prep School in London concerned about the negative effect smartphones can have on children. Although this is a pledge only open to parents of children at Notting Hill Prep School, it is supported by the school and is a fine example of how schools and parents can work together collectively for positive change if headteachers have the will.
Media
New book: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Psychologist Dr. Jonathan Haidt shows how the crisis in teen mental health was seeded by a decades-long shift from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood defined by over-supervision, structure, and fear in the real world but scant protection in the brutal online world.
Book: Wired Child: Reclaiming childhood in the digital age
Child psychologist Dr. Richard Freed explains why addictive so-called child-friendly technologies are depriving kids of joy in the real world.
https://richardfreed.com/wired-child/
Film: Childhood 2.0
A feature length documentary about the dangers of social media and its impact on childhood.
Film: Our kids Online
An important documentary and the personal journey of two parents in NZ exploring what children are exposed to online with excellent advice for parents. Available to rent or buy on Vimeo.
https://www.ourkidsonline.info/
TV: Mirror Mirror
This two-part documentary film from Australia is available for free on YouTube. It exposes the risks both children and adults face online.
Film: The Great Hack
This documentary, available on Netflix, is about digital rights, information warfare and how data collected by social media and Cambridge Analytica has been used to manipulate political outcomes from Brixit to the election of Donald Trump.
Film: The Social Dilemma
This documentary explains how social media is designed to be addictive and the social impacts of the algorithms it uses.
Video interview with the founder of Wait Until 8th, Brooke Shannon.
Kids For Now video
Kids For Now presentation.
We hope to add more resources here soon to help you build momentum within your community.
Keep up to date with news regarding delaying smartphones on our Facebook Page
For more information on internet safety check-out Teched Off