Gardenvale Primary School Alliance Information Evening

Monday October 7th 6:30 – 7:00 pm

Junior School Hall

What is the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance?

The Gardenvale Primary School Alliance is a collective of families from our school who are concerned about the harmful effects of social media and smartphones on our children and have consequently decided to delay social media and smartphone ownership for our children. It is part of a network of similar school alliances across Australia known as the Heads Up Alliance.

Why delay smartphones and social media?

There are numerous important reasons to delay smartphones and social media use for children.

Research suggests that social media and smartphones:

Are designed to hook children in and be used habitually
Give children dopamine hits that have them return again and again
Make children less social
Reduce their capacity to focus and learn
Change the physical architecture of their brains
Distract children from deep reading and comprehension
Make it harder for children to rest and sleep
Reduce younger children's playtime and older children's sports/exercise activities
Shrink quality family time
Inhibit the formation and nurturing of real-world connections and friendships
Lower children’s self-esteem (by forcing them to compare themselves to fake/unrealistic beauty and lifestyle standards)
Increase stress in children by pressuring them to maintain a curated online image
Escalate their risk of anxiety and depression
Facilitate bullying
Expose children to sexualised content
Expose them to sextortion
Increase the risk of child predation

I agree - but why form a group?

The peer pressure on our children to have social media and a smartphone, and their fear of missing out on online social interactions with friends, is enormous.

Even though many parents feel uneasy about social media and smartphones in young hands, our children’s incessant pleading can cause us to doubt our decisions. Which parent hasn’t been subjected to the “but-everybody-else-in-my-grade-has-an-iPhone” spiel? We begin to wonder if we are unfairly isolating our children from their friends and some of us end up giving in to our children’s demands.

However, is it true that “everybody” in your child’s class has social media and/or a smartphone? No – but it is difficult for us as parents to convince our children of this.

By rallying like-minded parents and forming the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance, we (and our children) are finally able to see in a very focused way that there are in fact many families just like ours who have decided to delay social media and smartphone use. As parents, when we see that other families have made the same decisions as ourselves, we can feel reassured that we are not the only “mean parents” but rather that we have made sound decisions for the wellbeing of our own families. We are also finally able to say with confidence to our children: “You are not alone. We know of other children in your grade who also don’t have an iPhone or TikTok”. Hopefully that can also help reduce our children’s fears of missing out.

Finally, forming a community with like-minded parents gives us strength in numbers and provides a place where we can continue to support and encourage each other to stay the course over the coming years.

What if my child already has a social media account or smartphone?

If you previously permitted your child to set up a social media account or to have their own smartphone, it is okay as a parent (motivated by your love and concern for your child’s wellbeing) to change your mind!

Of course, the conversation will need to be sensitive to your own child's situation, but in an alliance, it helps to be able to share with your child that you know of other families in their own class/grade/school who have considered this issue and have concluded similarly that it is best to delay social media and smartphone ownership.

I would like to give my child a basic phone for texting and calling. Can my family still be in the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance?

Absolutely! If your child's phone is a basic (“Dumb”) phone used for calling and texting only you can most definitely still be part of the alliance.

What If my child needs a phone for safety reasons?

We acknowledge that for some families a phone is an important safety tool. In this instance, we encourage parents to consider a basic phone instead.

If GPS tracking functionality is important to your family, there are also voice/text/GPS smartwatches on the market that meet the needs of safety-conscious parents.

What will I be required to do if I join the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance?

By joining the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance you are mutually committing to other parents in the group (and to parents in similar alliances across Australia) that you will delay giving your child a smartphone and access to social media (including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Discord).

You are not actively required to do anything more than that!

Every term you will receive one group email to support and help you maintain your commitment (this will be an open email and will include the details of other families in the alliance as it is important that we can identify each other).

How do I join the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance?

If you would like to join the Gardenvale Primary School Alliance, please send an email to gardenvale.alliance@gmail.com including your first name and the names of your child/children (first name and first initial of surname is enough, e.g. Sally T) and their grade/s.

We look forward to working together in the interest of our children’s future and hope to see you at the Information Evening on Monday October 7th 6:30 pm.

More Information and Resources

https://linktr.ee/TheHeadsUpAlliance

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Issue 28 · 17 Sep 2024

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