A new campaign encouraging parents to stop their children from accessing smartphone at a young age is gaining momentum in Australia.
The group, ‘Wait Mate,’ was founded by a group of parents determined to help their kids remains kids.
They are encouraging families to keep children from accessing smartphone devices until high school.
Co-founder Jessica Mendoza-Roth said she had been inspired by a similar program in the United States.
“I was inspired to create ‘Wait Mate’ after learning about ‘Wait Until 8th’ on a trip to America last year,” the Sydney mum told The Epoch Times.
“This U.S. organisation now has over 60,000 pledges and many Silicon Valley technology executives are behind it, saying ‘no’ to the smartphone until at least 14 for their children as they are acutely aware of its addictive nature.”
Fellow co-founder Amy Friedlander said the campaign had grown rapidly since kicking off just five days before.
So far, there have been over 800 pledges registered across 208 Australian schools and 355 student cohorts.
“We’ve had parents reach out to thank us with heart-warming messages of gratitude for taking a stand on this issue that so many feel helpless on, yet many want to fix,” Ms. Friedlander told The Epoch Times.
The pair said most parents supported the Wait Mate movement, which aims to create strength in numbers so parents aren’t struggling with their child being the only one not on social media.
“We are hoping to support and empower parents to stand together on this issue and be connected with aligned parents in their school community through the Wait Mate platform,” Ms. Friedlander said.
“Wait Mate wants to help change the status quo in Australia so that addictive smartphones have no place in Australian primary schools, pushing the norm to be at least high school.”
Ms. Friedlander said making a cultural shift was difficult, but was wary of the mental health risks linked to phones.
“Let’s let our kids be kids for longer and hit pause on smartphones until they’re old enough to better deal with the distractions and complexities that they bring. ”
The proposed ban would stretch across prominent platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, with penalties for social media companies who break the rules.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says $6.5 million had already been allocated by his government for a trial of online age verification.
