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Moved from Spain to San Francisco so their child could attend MS/HS; in Spain…
Brief
A parent who moved their child from Spain to San Francisco for middle/high school contrasts Spain’s parent-led no-screens pledge with an SF class iMessage group that produced hundreds of daily messages and darker content. After banning the phone the child endured a few weeks of upheaval, then adjusted and found happier things to do.
Why it matters
Moved from Spain to San Francisco so their child could attend MS/HS; in Spain parents had a ‘no screens’ pledge, but in SF the school encouraged joining a class iMessage group — the daughter felt compelled to follow hundreds of messages per day, messages later turned darker, so parents banned the phone and after a few weeks she recovered and found happier activities.
Key details
- Callum Williams (@econcallum) observed that forcing kids to lock phones away during the school day initially makes them sadder, then ‘quite a bit happier,’ which the author cites as matching their household’s experience.