04/21/2026
This is an amazing letter from a Mom to her third grader about her family’s 10 commandments around phones — drawn in part by the research she did for her recently published book, Plays Well with Others. This letter was featured on TODAY.COM.
Dearest almost third grader,
I write this letter as much for you as I do for myself, in the hopes that the power of the written word will bind me to everything I’m about to lay out. Because inevitably, you’ll soon claim that my refusal to get you a phone is impinging on your ability to make friends, keep friends, do schoolwork, teleport into a classmate’s house via avatar — lord knows where we’ll be by then. And so, our family’s 10 commandments around phones — drawn in part by the research I did for my first book, for which I consulted myriad experts about the effects of technology on parenting — explaining why you and your siblings will not be getting a phone until high school.
1) Boredom is good.
This is something that experts repeated to me, time and time again. The best thing for developing brains is not constant input, but rather boredom, which allows the mind to wander, and inevitably create activity by itself. Smartphones are boredom killers, full stop. Instead? Pick up a book. Build a block tower with your younger siblings. Think.
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Keep reading: https://www.waituntil8th.org/blog/2024/8/28/dear-daughter-why-youre-not-getting-a-phone-until-high-school
All information provided by Wait Until 8th — https://www.facebook.com/waituntil8th — https://www.waituntil8th.org/
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