Source…Scarbrough Alliance for Thoughtful Technology.
Jamie Andrew and Ellen Coughlin Quinn were the guest speakers Tuesday, September 11th, 2024. They are organizers of Scarborough Alliance for Thoughtful Technology, a growing group of Scarborough parents concerned about the Anxious Generation & phone-based childhood.
Inspired by Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, their mission is to motivate and empower teens, parents and educators in the Scarborough community to act collectively to free children and adolescents from a childhood spent largely alone on screens, and instead promote independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world.
They led an impassioned discussion about the concern for children who seem addicted to their smart phones, and advocated for some measures to help intervene. They propose no smart phones before high school, no social media before age 16, no phones in schools, and more independent play time.
The group raised money to buy 100 copies of The Anxious Generation, which they distributed to teachers, administrators and others.