Parents of preteens know the dismay that comes with this image: kids flopped on the couch for stretches of time, silent and mesmerized by smartphones. Maybe it’s Snapchat, maybe its Facebook or Instagram — but they scroll and scroll, oblivious to an outside world that beckons with all things tangible and sunny: a pool, a baseball diamond, a bike ride.

The things that lure kids into their own walled-off worlds have evolved over the years: Pac-Man in the ’80s, Nintendo in the ’90s. Today, it’s a smartphone that at times can seem like the Pacific Ocean between you and your children. Recently, a backlash against the trend has burgeoned in the form of Wait Until 8th, a movement that encourages parents to hold off on giving their children smartphones until the eighth grade, when their kids are usually 13 or 14. Read more…