Healthy Tech. Healthy Kids. Healthy Community.
A Central Oregon Advocacy Group
About Well Wired
Well Wired is working to change the status quo by fostering a new generation of informed, confident, and well-adapted kids capable of ‘looking up.’ A generation of elementary and middle school-aged kids without smartphones and social media. (Yes, we said it! But, now we have to act together - learn about our Healthy Tech Pledge!)
Well Wired is Central Oregon’s healthy tech advocacy group providing parent & child education, community, and school advocacy around healthy tech for our kids. Join Well Wired today!
Experts Recommend Delaying Smartphones & Social Media Until High School (or later)
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General put out an advisory on social media and youth mental health. This is the same office that warned us about seatbelts, cigarettes, and sunscreen. Parents must give this the attention it deserves.
“Adolescents, ages 10-19, are undergoing a highly sensitive period of brain development…(and) in early adolescents, when identities and sense of self-worth are forming, brain development is especially susceptible to social pressures, peer opinions, and peer comparisons. Frequent social media use may be associated with distinct changes in the developing brain...and could increase sensitivity to social rewards and punishments."
- U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, M.D.
Why This Matters
Upcoming Events
“There is increasing evidence that smartphones have a variety of detrimental effects on child development . . . so it makes sense that the cumulative effect of getting one’s first phone in elementary school would be larger than for those who don’t get a phone until high school.”
- Jonathan Haidt, NYU Psychologist & Researcher, Sapien Labs