A quiet revolution is occurring across playgrounds in New Jersey, living rooms in Seattle, and in the texting conversations of mothers nationwide. Some millennial parents are seeking to reintroduce a carefree and phone-free play style reminiscent of their own childhood to their children, emphasizing independence.
According to a report by “Today’s America,” Holly Moscatiello, a millennial mom, is the founder of The Balance Project, a non-profit organization aimed at helping children find a balance between independence and rational use of technology. Moscatiello explained, “We have seen the consequences of overusing technology. Now we have the opportunity to step back, and we are doing just that.”
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has long advocated for this shift. In his book “The Anxious Generation,” Haidt detailed the need to limit smartphone use before the age of 14.
2025 marks a turning point, as a global shift is underway, with laws and norms evolving across the world. In the suburbs of New Jersey, the sounds of laughter and play on climbing structures echo the ethos of this movement.
Girls swing on monkey bars with dolls in hand, laughter filling the air. Another group of children draws Greek gods like Poseidon and Hades on the asphalt basketball court, while boys start an impromptu game of football.
Across the United States, there are now over 100 chapters of The Balance Project run mainly by millennial moms. Haidt credits this group for spearheading the “No Smartphone Kids” movement. More than 50 organizations aligned with this idea are listed on Haidt’s website, including “Landline Kids,” “Outside Play Lab,” “Log OFF movement,” and “OK to Delay.”
Prior to last year, many parents resigned to the inevitability of their children becoming smartphone devotees. Data from the Pew Research Center shows that over half of children aged 12 and under are somehow using smartphones, with the percentage around 40% for those under 2. Among teenagers, nearly half report being constantly online.
However, Haidt’s work and the movement it has sparked have led parents to question this trend. They have been living in a culture that promotes “helicopter parenting,” where from birth, parents can track every breath, feeding, and sleep cycle of their child through Owlet smart socks, feeding apps, and baby monitors like Nanit on cribs.
Despite the increasing digital exposure for children, their real-world freedom has diminished significantly. Haidt collaborated with the Harris Poll to survey 8 to 12-year-olds, revealing that most couldn’t go out alone without adults, and over a quarter couldn’t play in their front yards unsupervised.
One father expressed, “I miss the simplicity of my childhood when my parents would just say, ‘Come home when it’s dinner time.’ You went out to play, and when it got dark, you knew it was time to come back.”
Haidt attributes this partly to a “moral panic” that began in the United States in the 1980s. Parents grew overly concerned about kidnapping and trafficking, combined with a lack of trust in neighbors, leading to a reduction in children’s natural playtime.
Social media and virtual games stepped in to fill the void left by basketball games and mall hangouts.
In Seattle, a group of dads is grappling with the same issue. Their 8 and 9-year-old kids crave independence, yet they are not ready to hand over smartphones to them.
Parents have embraced a screen-free landline phone designed for children and a new Wi-Fi-supported Tin Can. These phones allow free calls to other Tin Can phones and 911, with users able to add regular phone numbers through an app for $9.99 per month. Parents can set “quiet time” on these phones, filtering out junk calls and unknown numbers.
Megan Timmermann of Seattle acquired a Tin Can phone in October 2024 when the organization was still in its early stages and Kittleson was still installing them door-to-door.
Now these phones are spread across all 50 states, with some schools considering bulk purchases for their students. In communities like Oceanport, when one parent gets a Tin Can phone, others follow suit.
Many leading these transformations have read Haidt’s books, taken advice from Lenore Skenazy on free-range parenting, and are familiar with psychologist Peter Gray’s research on free play. They emphasize that for these changes to take effect, the entire community and school must be involved.
As of November, 36 states and Washington D.C. have implemented policies regarding K-12 students’ smartphone use at school. Furthermore, over 130,000 parents nationwide have signed the “Wait Until 8th” pledge, committing to wait until their children reach 8th grade before giving them a smartphone.
Timmermann stated, “I hope they can have the independence and carefreeness we might have had in our childhood. I don’t know what will happen in five years, but I aspire to be the kind of nostalgically ideal parent.”