A new Oak Park parent organization is hoping to ignite a conversation regarding smartphones on a local level with the creation of “Smartphones on Hold,” a grassroots initiative to help parents navigate their kids use of handheld devices.
Gideon Bob, an Oak Park resident, said the idea for the group came from his desire to address the topic before his kids enter middle school. The aim is to help create a community of families that are choosing to abstain from using smartphones until the end of eighth grade.
“This is not ‘the sky is falling,’ this is not the idea, that is not the feeling,” Bob said. “This is new technology that is newly being given to young people and it is something that needs to be navigated and figured out.”
Bob said he felt the natural breaking point when these conversations between students and parents begin to occur is middle school as kids are receiving more independence and others begin to get their first phones.
It’s a decision by default, he said.
Concerned over hearing how smartphones are major distractors at the middle school level along with seeing his ninth grade Sunday school students at his temple choose to be on their phones rather than engaging in personal interactions during breaks, Bob said he wanted to find a way to help address the issue without fully excluding children.
“I don’t want her [his daughter] to be socially excluded but I also don’t want to give them the entire internet in their pocket and have this constant distraction,” Bob said.
The solution is not to simply avoid giving your child a smartphone, said Bob, parent to a third and fifth grader at Longfellow Elementary in Oak Park Elementary School District 97, but to create a community that places value in waiting.
Bob connected with his friend Kelly Kribs, a parent at Longfellow, and the two launched “Smartphones on Hold.” The first meeting was held back in March.
The website launched on Monday, Aug. 19. It already has over 130 families signed up saying they will be waiting until high school to give their children smartphones.
While there are national organizations, such as “Wait Until 8th,” having grassroots, local organization can encourage Oak Park parents to feel more invested and personally connected with the movement along with showing their children how many other families are also waiting to give their children a smartphone.
“You can see your friends and neighbors on the list,” Bob said. “The public listening of being able to see each other, to be able to generate momentum I thought was the real value. The real thing that would solve the problem.”
Calling the parent organization a “big tent” group, Kribs shared with local parents in the Oak Park Working Mom’s Facebook group that the initiative is a place where parents can come together “without judgment.” The website lists flip phones and smart watches as “practical” choices that still keep in line with the mission. Additionally, Bob said parents have chosen to simply “strip away” smartphones, essentially dumbing them down to the basic functions such as calling, photos and GPS.
“We understand every parent is doing their best for their own family, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” Kribs said via the post.
As smartphone usage increases in young adults and children, so do parental concerns over the long-term repercussions.
According to a 2021 Common Sense Media census, 42% of kids have a phone by the age of 10 and by the age of 14 that number has increased to 91%.
A 2023 study by Common Sense Media analyzing smartphone data found that teens use their phones daily for an average of over four hours per day, picking up their phones an average of 51 times per day. The same study found that students are more likely to turn to social media on their cell phone during the school day.
Bob said parents who have participated in the meetings have raised various levels of concerns, ranging from social media, increased anxiety levels, and an increase in addiction to phones.
The consequences range from minimal to possibly huge consequences, he said.
With the goal of breaking down the illusion that everyone has a smartphone before high school, “Smartphones on Hold,” will help create an “intentional norm around delaying access” to the handheld technology.
“We’ve all come here chasing this high-value, high community life,” he said. “We are willing to trade our yard and square footage to be closer to our neighbors. So, this says ‘here is what my neighbor is doing. Let’s do this together,’ is the idea.”