A dumbphone has all the things parents want: Calling, texting, maybe a couple of other basics... It allows kids to be in touch with friends, while not allowing them to start mistaking online interaction for real, social, human experience. A dumbphone is an easy way to do “tech in steps” with your child.

A dumbphone LACKS app stores, internet browsers, social media apps, games, and basically anything that might suck your child in when they should be interacting with the world.

There are a lot of options out there. Here are a few to get your search started. You may even want to start younger kids off with a messaging-capable watch, if communication is necessary for your family:

• Gizmo Watch

• Gabb Watch or Phone

• Bark Watch or Phone starter plan

• Troomi phone

• Pinwheel watch or phone

• Light Phone III (or Light Phone II)

• Wisephone II

Here is a great article from ProtectYoungEyes.com that lays out the current child-appropriate device landscape and how they compare in features, pricing, etc.

Signing The Dumbphone Pledge means you are committing to keeping your student off smartphones, and thus social media, full internet access, etc., until 10th grade. Your name and info will NOT be shared, but when a person checks out our Who’s With Us page to see how many families from the same school and graduation year are committed, your family is counted in the tally. Your commitment gives other families the courage to do the same. 

From our perspective, any pledge or initiative that encourages delayed smartphone/social media adoption is awesome. The main difference between The Dumbphone Pledge and Wait Until 8th is the end goal: We want to encourage families to keep their kids off smartphones until 10th grade, rather than the end of 8th. 

We believe in the recommendation to restrict social media until the age of 16 (“The Anxious Generation:” age 16, Common Sense Media: age 15-16+) and feel it would be extremely difficult to hold to that decision if your child has a smartphone prior to that time; it is technically difficult for parents to manage, as well as a source of power-struggles between parents and kids.

You can still keep your child safe! There are ways to lock down a smartphone to make it nearly as safe as a dumbphone. Will it likely cause more ongoing power struggles than a dumbphone would? Yes, but it's still doable. Make the app store password protected. Remove internet browser apps or set the daily time limit to 1 minute if you can't remove it completely. Remove any apps that are at all entertaining for your child (games, social media, etc). Set a time of day that the phone gets given back to parents. Don't allow the smartphone in bedrooms. There are a ton of great best-practices out there you can follow if you feel it's too late to take the smartphone back.

Additionally, there are parental control apps for iPhone and Android that can help you manage these controls. Here are some of the top rated parental control apps.

This is a tough one. As a parent, sometimes we have to change the playbook and be ok with a child feeling that it's unfair. Try to explain to your child the reason behind the decision so that they understand that it's in their best interest and not arbitrary. We know more now than we used to. Parents used to be ok with kids smoking and riding in cars without seatbelts. Now we know better.

Yeah, we feel this one. This concern is the main reason we started this initiative. We don’t want to be in this fight alone. Our goal is for a majority of our students’ peers to also be without smartphones, but even just a couple of other kids in your kid’s social circle committed to wait with you will make all the difference.

If you need help setting boundaries around smartphones and social media (and sticking to them) with your student, here is a fantastic resource from Dr. Becky of Good Inside and Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation.”

We need you! Please talk about The Dumbphone Pledge with your friends, family and neighbors. Share us with your PTA/PTSA/PTO. Talk to the parents on your child's sports team or at church. Text a link to parents you know anywhere in the country. The more awareness we get, the easier it will be to start pushing back the smartphone adoption age of adolescents. Please also visit our Get Involved page!

Some advice that resonates with us is to create a contract WITH your child (in fact, they might even make the first draft) around expectations and rules for smartphone use in your family. Dr. Becky at Good Inside has a whole workshop and sample template that will provide professional tips and guidance around this big transition.