Our kids need our help! Please click to the right to sign the pledge via change.org. By signing, you pledge to join in collective action with fellow Lake Oswego parents to foster four key norms supporting a healthy offline childhood untethered from Internet excess. These include:
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Avoid giving smartphones to kids until high school:: Provide flip phones if necessary. If just a tiny fraction of our families can commit to this, the kids without smartphones will avoid social isolation. They and we will have each other's support.
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Advocate for no phones in schools: Teaching and learning are massive undertakings, even without distraction. Our teachers and kids should not be separated by smartphone activity. Let's get LOSD to commit to leaving phones at the door to increase and enhance the opportunity for live, in-person interactions for at least six hours per day.
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Keep our kids off social media until the age of 16: The performative nature of social media fuels a world of continuous anxiety born in unrealistic social comparisons and amplified bullying. Kids lack the executive function to navigate these issues, and the childhood opportunity cost of sacrificing healthy offline interactions is too high.
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Foster active independence to restore play-based childhood: Encourage kids to engage in active and independent offline activities with peers. Kids need lots of peer interaction outside the direct supervision of adults. They need to learn to go to the store by themselves, organize their own playdates, and transport themselves to friends' homes 1-3 miles away. These experiences are essential for healthy and happy childhoods that grow them into competent and independent adults.