I know that in limiting my children’s communication to mainly outside of the screen has a risk of isolation in this day and age. That’s why I was excited to find the research - that I vaguely remembered reading years ago - about the strength in teaming with like-minded individuals.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that “when a small, committed minority group reaches or exceeds 25% of the total population, they can effectively shift the societal norm.”

It’s called The 25% Rule.

Essentially, if we want something to feel “normal” for us, or our children, enough people out of a group have to go along with it. I want nothing more than for my children (and even myself) to have others to share certain behaviors with and to avoid having to explain to peers why they aren’t part of certain activities (group chats, social media feeds, etc.)

In order to make it “acceptable” to wait to give smartphones to children until 8th grade (my current goal), or acceptable for teenagers to communicate mainly outside of social media (a future goal), forming a group that is roughly 25% of the population of your community is where to put the effort.

(The reason it is so easy to conform is a good read too, found here.)

Reach out to help create a strength in numbers.

I treat social media like a bookshelf of photo albums. I intentionally choose whose life to look into rather than endlessly scrolling. When the moment is over, I close the album and step away.

A vision I like to keep in mind - instead of opening a door to an endless abundance of photos and videos thrown at me (endless scrolling), setting aside time to walk to the shelf and intentionally pick someone’s album to view. Making sure to allot some time throughout the month to view my own album.

“Digital vegetables can be a healthy use of screens (researching a term paper), while digital candy (Minecraft, Candy Crush) are hyperarousing and dopamine-activating digital stimulants without any ostensible ‘health benefit’.”

― Nicholas Kardaras, Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids -- And How to Break the Trance

Attempt to make most of your technology “digital vegetables” over “digital candy” with strategies like these:

Label various devices for “digital vegetable” use - Label an old smartphone a “music player,” place a laptop in the common area of your home with a print out of passwords for learning websites, or leaving writing prompts next to it to prompt creative writing.

Give your phone a home - Create a spot in your home to mimic how phones used to hang on walls. It also serves as a reminder that a smartphones main purpose is for communication as opposed to escape.

Place your phone in your shoes - This can serve as a good reminder to use your wind-down time waking or jogging with some music instead of simply sitting and scrolling.