Wait Mate rolled out in SA as pledge to delay giving kids a phone until high school gains national momentum
Parents desperate to protect their kids from tech addiction have found strength in numbers, with a revolutionary no-phones movement spreading across Australian schools.
Fed up with smartphone-addicted kids, South Australian parents are joining a new movement and creating phone-free pacts to delay devices until high school.
Wait Mate connects like-minded families within school communities through an online pledge, allowing parents to band together to tackle childhood anxiety and tech addiction.
After launching in Sydney last year, Wait Mate is now in SA with Adelaide lead Emily Harrison presenting to 15 private schools, the Education Department and soon, the premier.
“Yes we have a strong government implementing changes and soon social media age limits, but where we’re falling behind is at home,” the mother of two said.
“This brings us together on an issue that is impossible to tackle alone.”
The goal of Wait Mate is to keep children being kids for longer and to protect their mental health, while diminishing peer pressure for children to get smartphones early.
Modelled off the US campaign Wait Until 8th, parents are encouraged to sign an anonymous online pledge and once 10 parents have signed up in their child’s school year, they are connected via email.
“Wait Mates provide a sense of community and support,” Ms Harrison said.
“Parents sitting at home struggling with the issue of smartphones and tech can relax knowing there are at least 10 other parents from your child’s year level that feel the same.”
Nationally, there have been more than 12,000 pledges – 478 in SA across 106 schools which has unlocked 32 cohorts.
Ms Harrison said demand from parents has seen pledges extend up to Year 10.
“The feedback has been really positive and parents are emailing me to say thank you,” Ms Harrison said.
“It’s just too hard for parents to tackle alone.”
The SA Government implemented a mobile phone ban in all public high schools in mid-2023.
Academics from Flinders University tracked students’ behaviour before and after the phone bans were imposed and found they had led to a “small but significant” drop in students’ psychological distress and negative feelings, such as being scared, miserable, afraid or sad.
A social media ban for under-16s will be implemented nationwide from December 10, following News Corp Australia’s Let Them Be Kids Campaign.
More Coverage
Originally published as Wait Mate rolled out in SA as pledge to delay giving kids a phone until high school gains national momentum
