Guiding Parents’ Tech Boundaries
“Parents want a community norm that they can all gather around. Even better if they can blame the school.”
Schools can guide community tech norms!
Families today are struggling to navigate tech choices for their families. Parents’ personal choices around tech adoption (e.g., when to get a smartphone for their child or when to allow social media) are deeply affected by local community norms. It’s nearly impossible for families to resist the pressure of “everyone else has one!” Parents desperately need a community-based solution.
Schools are central pillars of the community, and families are deeply connected to them. As such, school leaders can shape community tech norms by proactively guiding families towards suggested tech boundaries that support healthy youth development. By guiding the school community towards healthier tech norms, school leaders help reduce social pressure on parents and kids, protect children’s mental health and wellbeing, and improve school and family life.
How one K-8 school is guiding families’ tech use
Before the start of the 2023–24 school year, Andrew Davis, Head of Mount Tamalpais School (MTS), recognized that change was needed. In a bold and forward-thinking move, he added “digital wellbeing” to the school’s strategic plan—acknowledging the profound impact technology has on our lives, regardless of where we live or who we are. A new concrete school priority became: “to support students and families in developing a productive, intentional, and healthy relationship with technology both on and off campus.”
In Fall 2023, Andrew introduced and rolled out “Home Digital Wellbeing Guidelines” (updated in 2024) to his school community. Andrew assumed he would be met with resistance or pushback from the parent community at MTS but instead found relief and gratitude - for the guidance and clarity his guidelines brought.
Watch the presentation (below) in which Andrew shares the digital wellbeing strategy and guidelines he implemented:
IN THIS VIDEO: Andrew Davis, Head of School at Mount Tamalpais School (K-8), shares how he is steering his school community towards healthier tech use norms. During the presentation, Andrew explains why he as a school leader stepped in to improve digital wellbeing, why we should anchor digital wellbeing in schools, what he implemented at his K-8 school, and how it's all landing (spoiler: really well with no pushback).
This presentation was part of a Marin County Schools Symposium hosted in May 2024 by ScreenSense, the Mill Valley Community Center, and Mount Tamalpais School.
Andrew essentially offered parents to “blame the school” while providing healthier norms for a communitywide course correction. This kind of leadership and collective action is making all the difference for MTS families! Learn more on the school’s technology webpage.
Just like MTS, your school can help pave the way to a local community solution by recommending similar standards and norms that prioritize the healthy development of children and adolescents.
Family Tech Guidelines any school can roll out!
Inspired by and adapted with permission from the visionary work of Andrew Davis, Head of School at Mount Tamalpais School, we created a ScreenSense version of Family Tech Guidelines - available in English and Spanish. Now any school can adopt (or adapt as they wish) these guidelines to provide clear recommendations that support healthy tech boundaries for their community. Community guidelines help parents and caregivers build healthy tech habits at home. By making these practices a community norm, schools ease the burden on individual families to manage these decisions alone.
These Family Tech Guidelines are another tool to help school communities adopt healthier tech habits for children and families. The printable one-pager includes guidelines for:
Delaying phones and watches and then keeping them simple (talk, text, and basic tools)
Delaying social media until high school
Keeping video games and texting in check
Creating device-free spaces
Protecting sleep with a tech bedtime
Integrating current best practices and expert recommendations, these guidelines are designed to help TK-8 families keep digital tech in check at home so it doesn't crowd out essential in-real-life activities - like a good night’s sleep, free play with friends, regular family time, and daily physical activity.
Implementing Family Tech Guidelines.
Schools can choose to download and distribute these ScreenSense guidelines as-is. We recommend sharing these guidelines with your staff first to get input and ultimately buy-in before rolling them out to your parent community.
When sharing with your parent community, it's helpful to share them in-person with parents at a well-attended event like Back to School Night, taking the time to present them as part of your school approach to learning and community. In addition, distribute them electronically in a stand-alone communication so they aren’t buried in longer communications. Providing guidelines to parents isn’t one-and-done; you’ll need to remind and empower families at key junctures like the start of each school year and every January after the winter break.
If you are interested in creating custom family tech guidelines for your school or if you need assistance with communications or a rollout strategy, email us anytime!
Where to Next?
-
Services
We offer Parent-Ed presentations as well as custom consulting for schools.
-
Phone-Free Schools
Resources for implementing personal device policies at your school.
-
OneStep Blog
Monthly tips for teaching healthy tech use. Great resource to share with parents