We promote collective action and policy change to liberate DC area children from the harms of phone and technology based childhoods.
What Can We Do Together?
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What Can We Do Together? *
Delay Smartphones & Tablets
Join forces with the parents of your child’s friends and classmates and commit to delaying smartphones and tablets for as long as possible. There is no magical age at which smartphone technology becomes safe for a developing brain. This is about liberating kids and teens – giving them their childhoods back – not depriving them of something. Consider landlines and smartphone alternatives even if you’ve already given your child a smartphone. You can reverse course, especially if you act alongside other parents!
Support Phone-Free Schools
A wave of bell-to-bell phone-free schools legislation crossed the country over the last two years. Support these efforts and make sure your child’s school is enforcing the policy they’ve adopted . Research shows that the presence of phones – even at lunch or during breaks – severely harms the social and academic development of children and teens. And school safety experts say that smartphones actually make students less safe during a crisis. Schools that have gone phone-free have loud cafeterias again, less bullying, and happier students and teachers.
Rethink Tech in Schools
Ask your schools to prioritize learning over the convenience and false promises offered by the Ed Tech industry. Humans are wired to learn from other humans. Global and national data confirms that learning declines exactly as school device use rises. Schools should go back to “analog as default” and make it their mission to improve student attention by protecting students from the sea of digital distractions. Bring back books, pencils, and face-to-face learning; the Ed Tech experiment failed, and things will only get worse with AI and the cognitive offloading it invites. We need to reverse course – and luckily some states and districts are already leading the charge.
Independence & Free Play
Prioritize free play and independence as much as possible. Start a play club (e.g. meet in the woods or at a field or park and let the kids run wild). Actively encourage independence, resisting the urge to supervise excessively. Check out the many resources of Let Grow for ideas and information about how to do this and why it’s so important.
“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
“Teach kids to think and I’ll guarantee they’ll be able to use tech; teach kids to tech and there’s no guarantee they’ll ever be able to think”
Jared Cooney Horvath, PhD, neuroscientist and author
“There is little robust evidence on digital technology’s added value in education…A lot of evidence comes from those trying to sell it”
UNESCO, Technology in Education: GEM Report 2023
works closely with the aligned organizations below
DMV Unplugged was formed as a result of the shared passion and determination of Liza Schalch and Keena McAvoy.
With experience in healthcare, education, and digital wellness, the pair joined forces after meeting in national advocacy spaces focused on minimizing the harms of technology overuse for children. They advocate with and inform national and state legislators, local school boards, and parent groups. Liza and Keena are members of Fairplay's Screens in Schools workgroup, the Distraction Free Schools Policy Project, the Tech Safe Learning Coalition and the Smartphone Free Childhood US, where Keena is on the leadership team. DMV Unplugged is driving change in technology use norms at home and at school so that the fundamental needs and experiences of a growing child and family are prioritized over the incentives of the technology industry. Most importantly, DMV Unplugged's goal is to make learning about these issues and taking powerful collective action steps in homes, schools, and communities as easy as possible.
Let's change the norms together!
