What Works
Real families managing technology without legislation. What they did isn't complicated, and none of it required a vote.
The rule is simple: phones charge in the kitchen overnight. Everyone's, not just the kids'. Parents pick up a cheap alarm clock so there's no reason to bring a device into the bedroom at all. Within a couple of weeks the late-night scrolling stops. What changes isn't the software. It's a decision, made and held by the adults in the house. No committee vote required.
Plenty of families are holding off on smartphones until high school. Kids start with a basic phone that does calls and texts, so parents can reach them without handing over the whole internet. The arguments still happen. Parents describe a year of asking, every week. What they notice is that by the time the smartphone arrives, the routines are already set: it charges in the kitchen overnight, parents can look at it whenever they want, and the family talks about what's on it. No law told them when to do it. They just decided what timeline fit their kid.
Homework first, then devices. Every phone and tablet goes in a basket by the door until schoolwork is done. The rule is boring, obvious, and it works. Grades come up, arguments come down. No age-verification law touches homework time, but a parent standing in the kitchen does. The authority already sits in the home.
