By Shannon Lukens.
When should a kid get their first cellphone? And why? Those are some of the questions longtime Steamboat Springs High School teacher Meghan Hansen-Peters is asking, as her son is about to start 6th grade at the middle school.
Hansen-Peters read a book called “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.” She says the book calls for collective action. So she has started a short survey. It’s a “formal but informal opportunity” for parents to talk and learn about smartphones.
“Because let’s face it, smartphones aren’t going anywhere, and I am curious if people want to either consider delaying smartphones, or are for a lot of our kids that have smartphones, are there things that we should be working on together so that we have more success and just so that all of our kids have a more healthy relationship with smartphones going forward.”
She sent out the first survey link to 5th grade parents at Soda Creek, but now she has been encouraged to send it to all parents who might have kids, and an opinion on when smartphones are appropriate. You are welcome to participate.
She’ll gather the information from the data and share the results of the survey with those who take it, and with Steamboat Radio News.
There is also an opportunity to form a small committee to brainstorm ways to engage more families in the discussion.