More than 70 South Australian schools have already signed up to take part in a new program which helps parents delay the introduction of smartphones for their children.
The Wait Mate program, set for a statewide rollout from next term thanks to $6.5 million in State Government funding, will be made available in every public and private school in SA.
It comes as new research published in the international journal Pediatrics shows children who own a smartphone by age 12 are at greater risk of depression, obesity and lack of sleep.
The study involved more than 10,000 young adolescents and found the earlier a child received a smartphone, the more likely they were to develop these conditions – with each additional year of earlier smartphone acquisition linked to worse outcomes.
Wait Mate will deliver presentations to parents at all South Australian primary schools in 2026-27, and all high schools in 2027-28. Take-home packs for parents form part of the rollout, along with online resources to support remote areas.
Wait Mate, inspired by an American program called Wait Until 8th (external site) (external site) (external site), is designed to reshape social norms around early phone adoption and empowers parents through shared commitment – taking an online pledge to delay their children's devices.
The State Government will also deploy a targeted public campaign to highlight the risks of smartphones, promote the benefits of getting kids off screens and support parents to maintain phone-free pacts as their children start high school.
The program's SA Director Emily Harrison said the strong response showed that parents were keen to receive more information.
"Wait Mate is about making it easier for families to delay smartphones by backing each other, and when your school reaches out, we’d simply encourage parents to rock up and be part of it," Ms Harrison said.
Gilles Street Primary School Principal Angela Van Enkhuyzen said the school’s parent community was "very supportive" of the program.
"We believe it’s important that children of this age learn about respectful relationships and boundaries in a face-to-face environment as the world of online or social media communication can be very confusing for them," Ms Van Enkhuyzen said.
"We want children to learn about social contact and communication from trusted adults, such as their parents and teachers at school. The Wait Mate program is a tool to help parents achieve this."
Expressions of interest for schools to get involved in Wait Mate and host a session for parents will continue throughout Term 2. The first round of host schools for the rollout starting in Term 3 will be selected in coming weeks.
Find out more about Wait Mate here (external site).
