Stonington ― A billboard on Route 1 near Fleming’s Feed now asks parents to delay giving their children smart phones until eighth grade, but it’s just one part of a larger collaboration between the town and its neighbors in Westerly.

With data indicating that smart phone and social media use can impact adolescent mental health, the two towns, their school districts, chambers of commerce and community organizations have teamed up to educate parents and encourage them to “Wait Until 8th.”

After watching their 21-year-old daughter grow up with a smart phone and seeing the data, Mike and Erica Cyr said they decided not to give their 11-year-old, who is in sixth grade, a smart phone.

“As parents of older kids and younger kids ― almost an 11-year difference ― it’s almost an opportunity to watch that information roll out and know better, do better,” Erica Cyr said last week.

She explained that their “gift of perspective,” led them to volunteer to help roll out and promote the local version of an international movement.

The Texas-based Wait Until 8th organization urges parents to “let kids be kids a little longer,” and asks them to pledge that they will delay providing their children with smart phones until at least eighth grade.

Parents can sign the online pledge, and once 10 parents with children in the same school and grade have signed it, the website automatically connects the families by email.

“Collective action matters. We can tell our kid that it’s cool, and they’ll appreciate it later, but if there are like-minded peers or parents, then everyone’s job is easier,” Erica Cyr said.

Christina Amanti Mathieu, director of pupil personnel services for Westerly Public Schools, also decided to sign the pledge on behalf of her daughter, citing her own relationship to social media and her experiences as an educator.

“I think it was actually fueled by my observation of what’s happening, especially at our secondary level, with kids and social media, but also with my own personal experiences,” she said,.

She added that even as an adult she feels the pressure to be perfect that comes from seeing the image-enhancing filters and the carefully cultivated posts on social media.

“I don’t want to expose her to that before she can really make good judgments and be objective about how she uses those tools,” Mathieu said.

Stonington Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Butler explained that the initiative goes further than the billboard, which was paid for by the town’s Human Services Department.

The Cyrs, through Mike Cyr’s media company, BuzzMedia, created and donated the local branding approach, “Heads Up: Less Screen Time, More Connection,” and postcards that advertise the initiative.

The local chambers of commerce printed the postcards which contain a scannable code linking users to continually updated resources, data, an Instagram page, the pledge and related community events like book clubs centered around Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation.”

Major increases in anxiety, depression

In his book, Haidt draws attention to striking national data like a 2019 study showing adolescents experienced a 52% increase in rates of major depressive episodes between 2005 and 2017, and the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that anxiety rates have risen across every adult age group under 50, with 18- 25-year-olds seeing the most dramatic increase ― 139% since 2010.

Adults over 50, who reached adulthood before the internet was widely available, saw a decrease of 8% over the same period.

Haidt attributes the increases primarily to reduced unstructured play time for children and the introduction of smart phones.

This year, Stonington Middle School began addressing both.

Principal Jeffrey Parkinson reinstated recess, giving students back unstructured “play” time to help them develop social and problem-solving skills and build relationships. The school also implemented the use of lockable, signal-blocking Yondr pouches. Students put their phones in the pouches in the morning, which teachers lock and then unlock at the end of the school day.

“Their brains are still developing, and the social media, and all those platforms have algorithms to know what to do to keep those kids intrigued and to keep those kids coming back for more. Having it not even be an option and having them be free to learn is a pretty nice thing,” said Erin Mendonca, the Stonington Middle School social worker.

Westerly Superintendent Mark Garceau said Haidt’s points about sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and the impact of social media on body image really resonated with him and his community, so when Butler and Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce President Lisa Konicki approached him about working together on the initiative, he said was fully on board.

“I’m not the mental health expert that others are, but I know, and I do see ― and I am an expert in this ― the impact it’s having on teaching and learning ― this ubiquitous presence of the smart phones, the unfettered access to the internet and social media,” he said.

In Westerly schools, students cannot use phones during instructional time. The district has purchased numerous copies of Haidt’s book, which are free for parents and community members to borrow.

“I can tell you that when a child comes to my office on recommendation from a building principal for expulsion, there is never a case that social media hasn’t been involved ― in some way shape or form ― in the situation that that child has gotten himself or herself into,” Butler said.

“This is not something to take lightly, and everybody has the opportunity to do their piece to make the state of mental health for these kiddos better, and I think that’s where the power of what you’re seeing with this whole Stonington-Westerly community coming together is: that we have more in common than we have differences,” Butler said.

More information can be found on the Instagram page @waituntil8th_oceancommunity, and www.waituntil8th.org.