Frequently Asked Questions

Why Smartphone-Free Until Grade 10?

Choosing when a child gets a smartphone isn't a moral test—it's a developmental one.

Smartphones are not just communication tools. They are powerful, always-on platforms designed to capture attention, shape behavior, and influence identity. For adults, this is challenging enough. For children and early adolescents, whose brains are still under construction, the risks are far greater.

Grade 10 is not a magic number. It's a developmental threshold—a point at which most adolescents are better equipped to handle the demands and pressures of a smartphone-based world.

1. Puberty Is a Critical Developmental Window

The years leading up to and during puberty are a once-in-a-lifetime period of brain development.

During this time, children are:

• Learning emotional regulation
• Developing impulse control
• Forming identity and self-worth
• Building real-world social skills through embodied, face-to-face interaction

Introducing smartphones too early replaces these formative experiences with curated feeds, constant comparison, and algorithm-driven feedback loops—long before the brain has the capacity to manage them.

Delaying smartphones until after puberty allows this developmental window to unfold with fewer distortions.

2. Smartphones Change the Social Environment—Not Just Individual Behavior

Many parents believe smartphone decisions are personal. In reality, they are environmental.

When smartphones enter a peer group:

• Conversations fragment
• Play becomes optional
• Attention shifts away from the present moment
• Social validation moves online

Even children without phones feel the impact. Delaying smartphones helps preserve a healthier social ecosystem—one where friendships are built through shared experiences, not shared screens.

This only works when families act together.

3. Social Media Was Never Designed for Children

Most major platforms were built for:

• Advertising
• Data extraction
• Engagement maximization

They were not designed for developing brains.

Algorithms reward content that triggers strong emotional reactions—comparison, outrage, fear, or validation-seeking. Children and early adolescents are especially vulnerable to these forces, yet most platforms:

• Set minimum ages that are not enforced
• Provide no meaningful age-appropriate guardrails
• Place the burden of protection entirely on parents

Delaying smartphone access is not overprotection—it's a rational response to an unregulated environment.

4. Real-World Experience Builds Resilience

Childhood is meant to include:

• Boredom
• Risky play
• Conflict
• Trial and error
• Face-to-face repair after mistakes

These experiences build resilience, confidence, and antifragility. Smartphones crowd them out.

There is only so much time in a day. Every hour spent in a phone-based world is an hour not spent building physical skills, social competence, or deep relationships.

5. Delay Is Not Denial

This approach is not anti-technology.

Most children will use smartphones as adults—and benefit from them. The question isn't if, but when.

By delaying smartphones until Grade 10, we give children:

• A stronger sense of self
• Healthier peer relationships
• Better emotional regulation
• A foundation built on real-world experience

When smartphones are introduced later, they are more likely to be used as tools—not as substitutes for childhood.