Binding promises, playdates, and supportive chat groups.
In countries like Spain, the USA, and the UK, parents are joining forces to keep children away from smartphones for as long as possible.
Most parents have been in this situation: the child looks at them with pleading eyes, points out that "everyone else" has one, and emphasizes the benefits of staying in touch with mom and dad.
Once you give in, there's often no going back.
Around half of 11-year-olds and almost all 13-year-olds in the USA own smartphones, according to a survey by the consulting firm Common Sense.
In Europe, the trend is the same.
Easier to resist?
But as more studies show that social media can lead to depression, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts among young people, parents have started to react. Vivek Murthy, a two-child father and head of the US federal health agency HHS, recently warned of a mental health crisis among young people. He urged Congress to act to get warning texts on social media.
Local organizations in the USA, including "Wait Until 8th", gather mothers and fathers who are ready to make promises not to give their children smartphones until they start high school, writes news site Axios.
The idea is that it's easier for parents to resist their children's phone pleas if more families in an area do the same.
Talk in the park
On the other side of the Atlantic, in Spain, the support group "Mobile-free youth" has gathered over 10,000 members. It was started by mother Elisabet García Permanyer, after she had a conversation with other worried parents in a park in Barcelona. The group advocates that children should be denied smartphones until they are 16 years old.
The reasoning is supported by Spanish police and health experts who have warned that children consume content with violence and pornography via their phones, writes news agency AP.
We adults are addicted to smartphones, how can we give them to 12-year-olds who have no idea how to handle them, asks García Permanyer rhetorically.
The Spanish government is on the same line. It has banned smartphones from schools' equivalent lower and middle levels.
Appeal from the principal
In the UK, where 97 percent of 12-year-olds own a smartphone according to the authority Ofcom, there is a Whatsapp group "United parents for a childhood free from smartphones" in each county.
And in Ireland, a similar movement started last year. It happened when eight elementary school principals wrote a joint letter to parents, urging them not to give their children smartphones.
