LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (OSV News) — As studies reveal the negative effects of smartphones on the health and well-being of elementary and middle schoolers, central Arkansas parents are taking a pledge to delay giving their children smartphones.
Two parishioners and parents at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock have started a chapter of the national program Wait Until 8th, an organization based in Austin, Texas, that encourages parents to pledge to wait until eighth grade before giving their children smartphones. The organization — www.waituntil8th.org — has resources and information to help other parents with their commitment.
Tricia Wilson and Grace Squires each have three children. Wilson has a stepson in college, a senior at Catholic High School in Little Rock and a daughter in kindergarten, while Squires has children in first grade, preK4 and in day care. The two began this initiative in early July as they walked out of Mass, talking about the challenges of parenting.
“I was telling Grace, isn’t it just interesting what our kids can do?” Wilson said. “We were reminiscing about the old days when we grew up, when kids played outside until dark. … The hardest part as a mom is, you don’t want your kid to be left out.”
Squires told Wilson about a program she had heard of a program in Kansas City, Kan., called Wait Until 8th and the two decided to start a local chapter.
Since July 7, they have already had more than 250 pledges from parents who say they will not give their children smartphones until eighth grade.
“We are calling on parents to delay equipping their children with smartphones until the end of eighth grade,” Wilson told the Arkansas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock. “This means no smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools and more outdoor play and childhood independence.”
“I want better for my children, especially my daughter,” Squires said. “I know as a young girl how much pressure there is to fit in, how you can get wrapped up in the bullying or miscommunication that can go along with growing up. In high school, I was on the receiving end of bullying, and I remember how low I was at that point in my life.”
Squires said many young people are so focused on their smartphones that they struggle to connect with the people around them.
“I see kids hanging out together in public and all of them are so wrapped in their phones they aren’t even in the present having fun with whom they are with now,” Squires said. “I want to take our children back to the days of growing up like when we did. More outdoor time, more one on one face time playing … and just giving our children a play-based childhood that they so deserve. Let’s let kids be kids a little longer.”
The discussion is a timely one — recent studies have shown the negative impact smartphones have on students, not just for academic performance but for mental and physical health.
Wilson said many parents worry about their children’s ability to contact them or 911 in an emergency. But Wilson said a basic cellphone is just as effective.
“Wait Until 8th has a mobile phone comparison, so there are phones that you can get that are like the old school flip phones that do not have web capabilities,” Wilson said. “They’re not meant for apps. They are meant to call 911 or call your parents.”
Theresa Hall, superintendent of Catholic schools, said the research weighs heavily in favor of waiting to give children smartphones.
“I do like the fact that this initiative is being shared with the parents because it will be easier for students to accept not getting a smartphone at an earlier age if it becomes a norm,” she said. “Parents have to make decisions based on what is best for their child.”
“Among the most intuitive things that Catholic High has done over the years is ban cellphones in school,” Steve Straessle, head of school at Catholic High School, told Arkansas Catholic. “When others were arguing that kids need them because they are ‘supercomputers in their pockets’ and they could access educational information at a touch, we hesitated because we were concerned that kids would be less interested in education and more interested in entertainment. It turns out our intuition proved correct.”
“Now we see the results of extreme youth smartphone use: sleep deprivation, social deprivation, attention fragmentation and addictions,” he added. “Moderation is the key, as it is in most things. And, telling a child they must wait until they’re more mature to receive a smartphone is just plain ol’ good parenting.”
Josh Salman, director of campus ministry at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, said during the past school year, students started turning in their phones at the beginning of the school day, and that teacher would hold onto it until the end of the school day.
“Really with COVID, we saw a big rise in cyberbullying and social media use that was negative, a lot of blows to self-esteem,” Salman said. “And by doing this, we’ve seen a lessening of pressure on our students. They actually feel like they’re not worried about what’s happening at home or outside of school, and they can really focus on school. I think that’s been a positive thing, of us taking up the phones.”
Abner Sierra, 17, a parishioner at St. John Church in Russellville and student at Russellville High School, said he is supportive of waiting to give children phones.
“My parents were a lot like that,” Sierra said. “Honestly, a lot of us, we try to grow up too fast, and cellphone usage isn’t the biggest priority. We need to enjoy our youth, our teen years.”
However, Sierra opposes efforts to ban phones in high schools. One reason is because Abner is involved in his father’s business and helps him with customer service and processing payments.
“With my phone locked up, I can’t be there for my family,” Sierra said. “I understand that students do abuse it every now and then, so maybe have stricter phone rules in the classroom, but pouching them up is just not the way to go.”
Larry Desiderio, 17, a member of St. John Church in Hot Springs and senior at Catholic High School in Little Rock, said his school has been strict about phones and is glad to see public high schools following in the same steps.
“Just being able to talk to somebody without having to pull out their phone … it shows the difference. At lunch (at CHS), you see people talking,” Desiderio said.
Desiderio said when he was in elementary school, he and his parents pledged that he wouldn’t get a phone until high school. Both sides kept their pledge, and Desiderio is thankful for it.
“The effect of phones on mental health is so devastating,” said Isabel Vacca, 17, a parishioner of St. Agnes Church in Mena and student at Mena High School. “It has caused us not to speak to each other. It’s caused us to result to bullying faster when we can hide behind that screen.”
Even though Mena High School only recently started a phone ban, Vacca can already see the difference.
“We’ve only been in school for three days so far, but I think I’ve talked to more people and I’ve seen more people talking to each other than ever before,” she said. “We have conversation starters at our tables at lunch, and we’re just talking. People are playing card games and board games, and it’s funny that we’re resulting to things that we did as kids. People are getting coloring books and digital cameras, and we’re enjoying each other’s company.”
Katie Zakrzewski is associate editor of the Arkansas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock.