Could "Wait Until 8th" Work at OIS?

​For those of you who attended the sessions by Allison Ochs way back in September, you will of course remember that she spent quite a bit of time talking about the effect of smart phones on the lives of our students.  One thing she mentioned was a campaign called Wait Until 8th that seeks to empower parents to wait until at least Grade 8 before giving their children a smart phone.

Neil shared this very interesting, sobering, enlightening article with me a few days ago, courtesy of the Wait Until 8th blog, and I thought some of you might enjoy it as well.

Also, just before Diwali, I also spotted this article in the New York Times regarding how the tech titans of Silicone Valley manage their own children's use of devices...very interesting reading.  (Spoiler alert:  Most of the people who are intimately involved in designing and building smart phones DO NOT allow their children access to this technology!)

I do see a few students with smart phones in our building each day, primarily in the Secondary School (in case you're wondering, I see the phones in students' hands when they enter the building, at which point they disappear into school bags, since we do not permit their use during the school day).  I often wonder how our parents have made decisions about their child's use of technology...in this specific case, whether to allow or deny their child access to incredible power of a smart phone.  I do out of curiosity, not in judgment.  I have a soon-to-be-4-year-old at home, and already he understands how touch screens work.  I think quite a bit about how all of this technology will shape his life experiences, in both good and bad ways.  How will I manage this for him until he can make his own decisions?

Most of our students, it appears, do not have a smart phone, and I often wonder why that is the case.  On quite a few levels, I think this is the harder decision to take:  There seems to be lots of pressure for parents to allow their kids to have these devices, so I am curious how some have bucked the trend and said no.

Have a look at the articles I have mentioned and feel free to comment:

• Whether you have decided to allow or deny your child access to a smart phone, how did you come to that decision? 
• Also, after having explored the Wait Until 8th website, what do you think about it?  Is it something that could be promoted in our school?

About the author...

Steve Augeri is the Head of School at the Oberoi International School - JVLR Campus.