Digital Smarts - Wait Until 8th! A New Movement Advocates Waiting On Cellphones

Today recently featured a blog written by K-8 teacher Ben Conlon that advocates for a movement called Wait Until 8th –  encouraging parents to wait until students are in the eighth grade to give them cellphones in an attempt to diminish the negative effects of social media on younger users. As Conlon points out, social media has complicated the lives of today's students, who often spend the majority of their free time in front of screens. He writes, “This is their norm. They don't realize how much of their childhood is being stolen by screens. They simply have no escape. It follows them home. It follows them everywhere. The phone is always on their minds. Texts are constant, often misinterpreted, hurtful, with no visual cues. They take the place of learning how to have genuine conversations."