As we navigate the digital age, it's crucial that we ensure our children's safety and well-being, both in and outside of school. Smartphones can be powerful tools, but they also pose risks like distraction, exposure to inappropriate content, anxiety, and overuse. We encourage you to take an active role in managing your child's device usage.
Delaying the introduction of a personal smartphone as long as possible is an assured way to keep children’s technology use under control. If a device is necessary for communication or safety, consider child-focused feature phones (i.e. Gabb, Pinwheel, or Bark). These options provide essential features like parent-approved contacts and texting, GPS tracking, and limited or no apps, while eliminating access to the internet and social media to minimize potential harms. When the time comes to provide a smartphone, leverage the built-in parental controls on the two most popular platforms: Apple Screen Time for iOS devices and Google Family Link for Android. We strongly recommend setting up these tools fully before handing the device to your child. Key features include content and privacy restrictions to block unsuitable material, downtime and app limits to promote healthy habits, restrictions on purchases and downloads to prevent unauthorized spending, management of allowed apps and features for tailored access, filtering of web content to ensure safe browsing, and privacy and communication settings to control who your child interacts with. By proactively using these resources, you can help foster responsible digital citizenship and support a focused learning environment at school.