✏️How Wait Mate works to empower parents to hit pause on smartphones
1. Sign the pledge on our website - only tell us your child’s first name and last name initial, school and year group. Just enough info to identify them to fellow class mates without giving any unnecessary data. Pledge to hit pause on smartphones until year 7, 8, 9 or 10
2. Share with fellow parents in your school community to start a conversation and urge them to pledge too. If you just send our URL waitmate.org.au you will see a share graphic automatically. Once 10 families in your child’s cohort pledge, the pledge unlocks and is in effect with strength in numbers 💪🏼
3. Stay connected - When your pledge unlocks you receive an email connecting you with the other aligned families in your cohort. This email group is dynamically updated every time a new family joins the pledge. You will receive an updated list of who has pledged monthly. Reply to this email group to continue the conversation on this issue with like-minded families. You may wish to share articles or research or discuss challenges arising in your year group. Anything that helps!
If you have any trouble through the process please Dm us or email us through the website.
Let’s stand stronger together for the sake of our kids! It’s time to slow down, growing up. We’ve got this! ✨
Some parents have asked us why they should pledge ⁉️ - they’ve decided they won’t give their child a smartphone📱but don’t get why they should pledge with @wait.mate so we thought we’d break down some of the reasons...
Peer pressure to own a smartphone heats up in the later primary school years - if you haven’t experienced this yet it may not feel like a challenge or issue (yet).
Scroll through for some of the reasons we believe pledging is important to facilitate collective action.
Please share with friends who’ve asked you this question or your class WhatsApp group for more clarity on the WHY of WAIT MATE 🙏🏻🩷
We are a group of primary school parents brought together by our mutual desire to delay a phone-based future for our children and the belief that we have the power to make positive change.
Inspired by @waituntil8th in the USA, we’ve created a not-for-profit Australian movement to halt the worrying statistics. Our only motive is to extend the nourishing, play-based childhood our children deserve and slow down, growing up.
If we all take action and sign the pledge to hit pause on smartphones until (at least) high school, there will be less peer pressure and no reason to own one in primary school. This is the reason we’ve designed the pledge to connect you with like-minded parents in your child’s specific school cohort so you can stand stronger, together.
We believe that now is the time to change the course of history and reverse the adverse mental health outcomes for our future teens.
Delaying social media is important but it is not enough. We need to let our kids be kids for longer, without an addictive screen in their pockets pulling them away from critical childhood experiences.
It begins with a simple, powerful act - sign the pledge! and share it far and wide 🙏🏻 #pledge #delay #smartphones #childhood #waitmate
In 2026 we teamed up with @wait.mate to try something new.
Scroll Less, Fringe More encouraged families to swap smartphones for stages, making real Fringe memories together – and the result was something pretty special 💖
Take a look at what happened 👀
🗝️Your pledge has unlocked and you can see the families who are in it with you.
What makes it work from here is staying connected 🤝
📧 Every unlocked Wait Mate cohort has an email thread where you can reply at any time. As new families pledge, they are automatically added, with email addresses remaining private.
It does not need to be a big message. A quick check in, a question about playdates or sleepovers, or sharing what is working at home all helps keep the commitment visible and real.
Reply to the unlock email or any pledge update email from Wait Mate at any time to start or keep the conversation going.
The more parents who speak up, the easier it becomes for everyone to hold the line. We’ve got this! 💚
❌ Kids are not failing self control 📲They are up against products designed to hook them
📚The new book, Dopamine Kids, explains why
Delaying smartphones gives their brains time to develop first - and it is a whole lot easier when you do it together
Join the Wait Mate movement 💚
@michaeleen.doucleff
As @adlfringe draws to a close this week, we are reflecting on how it all began at our “Scroll Less, Fringe More” family fun day at Fools Paradise.
We invited families to “Hit pause on smartphones. Press play on real life” with thousands of discounted $5 tickets to a full day of live performance and playful fringe fun, with free face painting, roving performers, games and more. Most importantly the spirit of the day was “Phones Away, Fringe for the day!” - made possible by long-time Fringe champions Bill Manos and Theo Maras.
We can’t wait to bring phone-free events to more cultural spaces across our country to remind adults & kids alike of the joy of being present and experiencing live performance and social connection IRL.
📸 disclaimer - all of these photos were captured on an actual camera 😉
We went screen-free for a day at Fool’s Paradise… and honestly, no one missed their phones, iPads or PlayStations, etc…
Face painting, games, roving performers, shows and FUN activities everywhere… this is Fringe at its best.
Massive thanks to Wait Mate for giving families a reason to hit pause and just play. Would you like to see more events like this?
#ScrollLessFringeMore #AdelaideFringe #FoolsParadise #FamilyFun #ScreenFree
🔎 A new study published in ‘Pediatrics’ has found that owning a smartphone by age 12 is associated with poorer sleep, higher depressive symptoms and increased risk of obesity.
For parents who’ve chosen to delay, this isn’t about fear. It’s about clarity.
Early adolescence is a sensitive window for mental health, sleep and identity formation. Taking more time before introducing a 24/7 internet-connected device can be a thoughtful, evidence-informed choice.
If you’ve ever wondered whether waiting is the right call…this may be the reassurance you were looking for.
Pledge with @wait.mate and be connected with aligned parents.
💭Keep the conversation going by replying to the unlock email that connects you at anytime. We are stronger together on this!
Back to school just got a whole lot more hopeful 🎒✨
If your child is in Year 7 this year, you can now make a Wait Mate pledge to delay smartphones into the high school years. All the way to Year 12 in fact.
This matters because the biggest pressure point often comes at the transition to high school. New schools, new peer groups, new expectations.
This new feature helps parents find strength in numbers and aligned families who also want to delay the smartphone into the teen years.
You asked us and we listened. This new feature reflects a real shift we’re seeing: More families are choosing to delay smartphones well beyond primary school, because the social and mental health benefits are clearer than ever.
High school doesn’t have to mean “smartphone first”.
There’s another way (and many other devices that provide contact and facilitate independence without addictive features or the risk of harmful experiences) - and more parents are choosing it together 👉 Link in bio to pledge 🤍
Hit pause on smartphones. Press play on Fringe fun.
This Adelaide Fringe, we’re inviting families to swap screens for stages with $5 tickets to family-friendly shows at Fool's Paradise.
📆 Saturday 21 February, 10am-4pm
📍 Fool's Paradise, Victoria Square
Make a day of it with roving performers, free face painting, and games.
Delivered in collaboration with @wait.mate , and supported by Bill Manos and Theo Maras, this one-day event is all about putting phones down, jumping into the moment, and making real Fringe memories together.
Made for kids. Loved by grown-ups.
Learn more via link in bio.
It was fabulous to be at Parkside Primary School earlier today with Premier @pmalinauskasmp and Minister @blair.boyermp to announce our partnership with @wait.mate aimed at getting kids off screens.
As a mother of teenagers, I have seen first hand the addiction and dangers of social media. Super proud that we are leading the nation - and indeed the world - by doing something about this here in South Australia.
