Thousands of WA parents vowing to delay giving their children smartphones as social media ban gets underway

As the social media ban for under 16s gets underway, thousands of WA parents are going a step further and vowing to delay giving their children smartphones. Wait Mate, a grassroots movement started by five parents 18 months ago, has now received 15,000 pledges from parents committing not to give their child a smart phone until at least high school — many instead giving their children “dumb phones”. The South Australian government this week announced $6.5 million to make the initiative available to all families in the State and the founders hope others will follow suit. In WA, 4078 parents from 412 schools have signed the Wait Mait online pledge. Once 10 or more families from a school’s year group sign up, the year group becomes “unlocked” and families are connected via email. Subiaco Primary School tops the list with 183 pledges, followed by Floreat Park Primary School with 140, Rosalie Primary School with 122 pledges and Vasse and Wembley Downs primary schools with 113 pledges each. Subiaco PS parent Hannah McKelvie, a member of the P&C Healthy Hub sub-committee, introduced Wait Mate to the school last year. “We wanted to ensure that there was awareness of families who would be choosing to delay giving children smartphones, and to ensure everyone in the school could make their preferred choice,” she said. “We also know that parents play a critical role in shaping digital habits and modelling healthy device use, and Wait Mate offers lots of supportive information around that. “All year groups unlocked within days of launch, reflecting strong community alignment and trust.” Mrs McKelvie, who has two daughters Zoe, 11, and Jessica, 7, said school parents were also part of local groups WA Smartphone-Free Childhood and Subiaco Parents Device Group. The initiative is expected to gather momentum in the wake of the nationwide social media ban for under 16s. Perth online safety educator Paris McNeil said while the discussion in recent days had centred on loopholes, teens migrating to other platforms like Yope and questions around compliance by the social media giants, there was another measure of success. “What really matters is whether it leads to cultural and behavioural change amongst Australian kids,” she said. “The goal shouldn’t be getting 100 per cent of kids off social media, but rather using this legislation to reach a tipping point. “If 80 per cent of kids are off social media, that’s enough to change their behavioural patterns and reset the norm.” Ms McNeil said the ban had the potential to protect children’s mental health and safety, to shift responsibility from families to platforms and allow young people to enjoy their childhood. “A blanket ban will never be perfect, but it’s a big step in the right direction,” Ms McNeil said. “For too long, the burden of managing social media harm has fallen on parents and schools. Now, the responsibility is on platforms to prove they’re taking child safety seriously.” “There will be a teething period as companies refine their age-verification systems, but if the result is fewer kids glued to insidious algorithms, that’s a win for all of us.” Wait Mate spokeswoman Emily Harrison said the initiative was aimed at giving parents “strength in numbers”. “And to give children back a childhood that isn’t dominated by a device,” she said. “Wait Mate removes the social pressure from both sides: parents don’t feel alone, and kids don’t feel different.”