Together, we can turn the tide.
We are a grassroots movement powered by collective action with the well-being of our tri-town communities of Freeport, Durham and Pownal, Maine in mind. We strive for a community fostering play-based childhoods, where face-to-face human connection is paramount and technology stands to play a thoughtful, healthy, supporting role in the lives of our children and teens.
“The moral test of any society is how well
it protects its children.”
Vivek H. Murthy - US Surgeon General
Our Mission
Our mission as an alliance of the citizens of Freeport, Pownal and Durham (RSU5) is to provide an opportunity for discussion and action with regards to the use of technology in our community, in particular the use of smartphones and social media amongst children and teens in RSU5. The alliance also aims to keep the community informed of the latest information as it unfolds concerning smartphones and social media usage and our kids.
Gen Z reports spending 50% less time with their friends than the previous generation of millenials.
“It’s really tough and I’m very overwhelmed.”
Drew Barrymore laments the struggles of holding off on giving her kids phones. This is every parent. But if we all work together to keep kids off smartphones, we help our kids and we help one another.
“I don’t care if you hate me for this. I don’t care if you’re mad at me for this. I know that I am doing the right thing by you.”
RSU-5 in the News…
The Portland Press Herald - June 27, 2024
By Kirstian Moravec (Times Record)
The group, RSU5 Alliance for Thoughtful Technology, was spearheaded in recent weeks by Annie Ware with the help of several other parents. The goal, Ware said, is to address smartphone and social media use among kids prior to high school.
Parents in Regional School Unit 5 are rallying behind an alliance to restrict smartphone and social media use in schools, following a national trend of cellphone bans in schools.
The group, RSU5 Alliance for Thoughtful Technology, was spearheaded in recent weeks by Annie Ware with the help of several other parents. The goal, Ware said, is to more effectively ban smartphone use — and subsequent social media use — among kids younger than ninth grade.
Read the rest of the article here.
Freeport-area parents aim to curb cellphones in schools
More news….
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
This recent bestseller is being coined a must read for parents with children in school or going into school. It is being coined a “generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.” Based on the startling data Haidt puts forth in The Anxious Generation linking poor mental health, low self-esteem/body image and general loneliness in our youth as a result of smartphone and social media he puts forth four guidelines that communities can implement to combat these unhealthy affect:
No Smartphones before High School
No social media before age 16
Phone free schools
More unsupervised play and independent play
Haidt affirms that collective action gives parents a technology off ramp they don’t have as an individual.
In an op/ed piece in the New York Times published on June 17, 2024, the United States Surgeon General made a bold call for warning labels on social media like that of cigarettes that state that social media is associated with significant mental health harms in adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.
US Surgeon General calls for warning labels on social media.
“Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours..”