DMV Unplugged promotes collective action and policy change to liberate DC area children from the harms of phone and technology based childhoods.

What can we do together in the DC, Maryland and Virginia region?

  • Share…information and offer support during this challenging time to be a parent.

  • Learn…and make choices about the presence of algorithmic and addictive technology in our children’s lives

  • Advocate…and expect our government and schools to support environments in which our children grow and learn best.

Silicon Valley is NOT in control…We Are.

  • DELAY Smartphones & Tablets

  • Phone Free Schools

  • Educational Technology that prioritizes the learner and teacher, not the tech industry.

  • More independence, free play and screen free experiences

Schools should ensure that classroom learning and social time are phone-free experiences. Parents, too, should create phone-free zones around bedtime, meals and social gatherings to safeguard their kids’ sleep and real-life connections — both of which have direct effects on mental health. And they should wait until after middle school to allow their kids access to social media. This is much easier said than done, which is why parents should work together with other families to establish shared rules, so no parents have to struggle alone or feel guilty when their teens say they are the only one who has to endure limits.”

Vivek Murthy, M.D. , US Surgeon General

MISSION

Change the current norms of technology in the lives of children and teenagers. We envision new expectations regarding children and technology where the necessary experiences for a child’s growing and expectant brain are not corrupted and replaced by electronic devices.

VISION

DMV Unplugged seeks to instigate and support change in the lives of children in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. We aim to educate, organize, and support schools and families by translating current research about kids’ brains and technology and by offering practical, realistic solutions to this crisis in the lives of our children. We want to replace inertia and dread with collective action and hope. 

GOALS

  • Delay and minimize the exposure of children to the harms of technology in schools and at home by prioritizing embodied, synchronous, real life experiences. Families can consider alternative phones/devices that do not offer algorithmically generated apps and can reconsider the ages at which a child receives a personal electronic device. Our youngest children should have opportunities to develop self control and communication skills that are not interfered with by the overuse of technology during these daily teachable moments.

  • Phone Free Schools - In all schools and at every grade level, phones should be off and away (in phone lockers or pouches) from first bell to last bell. The entire school day is an instructional time for our children that should not be disrupted by the tech industry’s drive for profits. Tech products provide a challenge in self control that a child’s brain simply cannot master.

  • Educational technology should only be used with intention in classrooms when it is transformational and truly necessary; pervasive tech use threatens to replace the most valuable components of the educational experience (i.e. relationships) and materials that research proves are better for learning (i.e. physical books, pencil & paper, manipulatives).