Thank you for the articel, I especially liked the idea of the announcement when handed out the first smartphone...
I am ambivalent regarding the idea, to achieve agreement among parents about when to hand out mobile phones to the children of one class/group. As you pointed out in the beginning, there might be differences in how to cope with the challenges (and at what age) among the kids, therefore such an agreement might be counter-productive.
For a couple of months I am collecting ideas on that issue. Basically, so far this is what I found most helpful:
Adults often try to limit the time of their children's usage of social media (often including any other "screens" such as TV, video games, etc.) At the end they start argueing whether time is up or not.
If we take it the other way around, we can define "times without medias", which is much easier to stick to.
This leads me to a second, very important point: The example parents/adults are setting. If you have developed times without medias, parents have to stick to it themselves. It may be one important lesson we have to learn our kids, that we don't have to be on call 24 hrs a day.The most efficient way to do this, is to be a proper role model.
At the end, as you have implied in your articel as well, the amount of time children spend with social media might not even be the most important indicator. It should be the diversity. If children
* have social contacts apart from the virtual world, meet friends, etc.
* are in sport clubs or the like
* are exercising, spending time outside, etc.
* don't neglect their duties (school, house keepking, etc.)
the amount of time they spend with their smartphones is not crucial. On the one hand, all those activities reduce time spending on social media, on the other hand they show diversity which should reduce our worries about their well-being.
Does that sound comprehensible?