Stronger together.

When enough families in the same friend group decide together, the social pressure disappears.

How this works

Add a family

Type their last name. Add as many as you want over time.

Invite them

Tap their circle and pick how you reached out, by text or in person.

Mark when they agree

Their circle turns green and the tree grows.

Pact Members

Shared agreements (0)

What you and these families are agreeing to

Add a custom agreement

Why this works

When enough families in the same friend group make the same decision together, the social penalty disappears. Similar to the Wait Until 8th movement.

The Digital Childhood AI

What's on your mind?

Tell me what's happening, and I'll help you find the right words. No judgment, no overwhelm.

Grounded in our content

Calm & quick

Calm, brand-safe answers, not a substitute for a professional.

The asks we hear most

"He keeps asking for Snapchat."

"I don't know what to say about AI."

"Gaming is taking over evenings."

Thinking it through with you…

A few words to try

Ask The Digital Childhood

A note from Chelsea: These responses are calm starting points grounded in our content, and they are not a replacement for a pediatrician, therapist, or any licensed professional. If something feels serious, please reach out to someone you trust who can actually help in person.

My Family

Every child is on a different stage of their digital childhood, and The Digital Childhood builds the right path for each one of them.

Add a child

Friend Group Digital Pact

Align with other families on tech.

Family Digital Pact

Your routines and agreements.

Share The Digital Childhood

Send to a friend who needs this.

Make it yours.

How you want The Digital Childhood to feel and behave on your device

Appearance

Dark mode

Notifications

Push notifications

Let The Digital Childhood send reminders to this device

Morning question to ask your kid

A short, calm conversation starter delivered every few days, so some mornings start with a real question instead of a feed.

Sunday-night family check-in

A gentle reflection delivered Sunday evening, so the week ahead starts with one calm thing you want to try.

Notifications stay light, usually just a few times a week and never more than one a day. The morning question comes every few days, the family check-in comes Sunday evening, and you can turn any of these off whenever you want.

Monthly digest

One calm email a month from The Digital Childhood, with the script most parents needed recently and an offline activity worth trying with your kids this week. We never spam and we never sell your email.

See a preview →

Help & support

FAQ

Plain answers to the common questions

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Email us

hello@thedigitalchildhood.com

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Subscription & billing

Manage subscription

Update payment, cancel, see billing

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Founder's pricing

Lock in $29/year for life

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Privacy & data

Privacy Policy

How we protect your data

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Terms of Service

The agreement, in plain language

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Accessibility

Our WCAG 2.1 AA commitment

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Copyright (DMCA)

How to file a takedown notice

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Export my data

Download everything

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Share your feedback

Tell us what would make The Digital Childhood better for you.

Anything you want us to add, change, or fix. We read every single one.

What kind of feedback In your own words

Permanently deletes all your data. This cannot be undone.

About

The Digital Childhood™

Calm guidance for raising kids in a digital world

I'm Chelsea, and I built this for parents like me, the ones who needed a calm guide for the tech part of raising kids and couldn't find one anywhere.

I'm here to be a friend in your pocket.

I'm a stay-at-home mom of a son and a daughter, ages 6 and 8, and I was a kid who was deep in tech back when it wasn't on anyone's radar yet.

The Digital Childhood is what I wish my parents had when I was a kid, and what I wish I had now, so I created it.

When a hard moment happens, open The Digital Childhood.

Learn It

Context to learn your kid's digital world

Explain It

Real scripts to explain tech to your kid

Protect Childhood

Pacts and offline tools to protect
childhood

"You don't have to do this alone, and you don't have to have all the answers."

Our approach

The Digital Childhood is not anti-tech. It is anti-overwhelm.

We believe technology is part of growing up today and we want kids to use it well, which means giving you the context of the tech they are actually using and the words for the hard moments, while protecting the room for childhood to still feel like childhood.

Where this is grounded

The Digital Childhood draws on research and reporting from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Common Sense Media, the Surgeon General's advisory on social media and youth mental health, the Wait Until 8th movement, Pew Research, and the work of Jonathan Haidt, among others. We try to anchor advice in real research.

What this app is not

The Digital Childhood is meant to be a calm starting point for your family, and it is not a replacement for a pediatrician, therapist, or any licensed professional. The Ask feature uses AI to surface calm starting points grounded in our content, and it is not a person and not a doctor.

If you ever need real help

The Digital Childhood is a calm starting point, not a replacement for professional care. If something feels bigger than a conversation, your pediatrician or therapist is who you want. And if you or your child is ever in crisis, 988 is the 24/7 lifeline by call or text in the US.

Know a parent who could use this?

This page is only for you. Tap a button below to send the monthly digest email or a push notification to everyone subscribed. If something isn't configured, the button will tell you what's missing.

Monthly digest

Sends the monthly email to every subscriber. Preview first to see exactly what they'll get.

Email subject line

Push notification

Sends a notification to everyone who's allowed reminders. Keep it short and warm.

Title Message

You only see this page because you're in the admins table. Regular users can't get here.

Share Card

Tap and hold to save to photos

Why this matters

When one parent shares a real moment, another parent stops feeling alone.

Every stage, a conversation.

What's happening at each stage and what to do about it.

0 of 0 actions checked off

Everything you have saved.

Ready when you actually need it.

All

Scripts

Context

Plans

Notes

My Notes

From our family & yours.

Real moments figuring out tech together, shared so you feel less alone in yours.

Our story · AI

She explained AI better than I ever could

"You're the doctor. AI is the nurse."

Our story · ChatGPT

My daughter asked to talk to ChatGPT at bedtime.

The conversation that changed how I explain AI.

Our story · AI Companion

My daughter asked to download an AI 'chat friend' she saw in a kids' game ad.

She was curious. Not lonely. Here's what that taught me.

Our story · School

I asked my kids' teachers if paper-and-pencil could be an option.

After reading the research, I made a small choice.

Tell us your story.

Stories from real parents make this place worth coming back to. Yours could be the one that helps someone else feel less alone.

What kind of story In your own words

Chelsea reads every story personally, and if we share yours we will always ask first.

Schools & Policy

The school side of the digital conversation.

The phone-free school movement is real, and these are the tools to bring it to your own district.

Policy & Research

School Toolkit

Phone-Free Schools

90%+ of parents support phone bans. Dozens of states have laws on the books.

Phone-free schools see real change for kids, with less anxiety and more in-person connection, and the question to bring to your school is whether their policy actually covers the full day.

Smartphone Free Childhood US

Parent-led movement to make phone-free childhood the norm. Find your local chapter, join a school campaign, and download slide decks + evidence packs to present to your school.

Join the movement →

Schools Beyond Screens

Research-backed resources for school administrators and parent advocates. Case studies, policy templates, and the latest data on phone-free outcomes.

Visit schoolsbeyondscreens.com →

AI in Classrooms

Schools are adopting AI faster than policy can keep up.

Are our children learning to think first, or to prompt first?

Ask your school

· Do they have an AI use policy?
· What AI tools are approved for students?
· Can you opt out of EdTech data collection?
· Is paper-and-pencil still an option?

Script: "But AI said it was true"

When your child cites AI as a source, the exact words to help them think critically about where information comes from.

Read the script →

Legislation

More states are passing real laws now, and the pace has picked up.

Phone bans: CA, FL, VA, IN and others have passed school phone restrictions.
Social media: States now requiring age verification for accounts.
Privacy: Federal updates that expand what data tech companies can collect on kids under 13.

Screen Sanity Tools

Parent Night Kit, group study guides, and resources for hosting community conversations about tech and legislation.

Get the toolkit →

Sign the Delay Manifesto

A growing coalition of parents committed to delaying smartphones and social media. Add your name and share it with other families at your school.

Sign at protectyoungeyes.com →

Script: AI for homework

The conversation most parents need right now: when your child wants to use ChatGPT for their schoolwork.

Read the script →

What's the moment you're walking into?

Pick what is actually happening in your home right now, and we will pull together the words and tools that help.

Tech overwhelm

New apps, AI tools, and tech you don't fully understand yet.

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Social media pressure

Everyone has it. They want it. You're not sure.

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AI and new tech

ChatGPT, AI friends, tools you don't understand yet.

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The first phone decision

When, what kind, what rules, what to expect.

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Feeling like the only one

Other parents don't seem worried. You feel isolated.

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Tech in their school

Chromebooks all day, AI in the classroom, no say in it.

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Put the phone down.

Offline ideas your kids will actually want to try.

How this works

Your next idea is one tap away.

Pick a filter or just hit Go and we will find something fun.

217 activities to discover

Your school action kit.

Build out your school packet: letter, PTA agenda, and the questions worth bringing.

How this works

Fill in your details

Drop in your name, your principal, and your school, and the letter personalizes as you type.

Pick your talking points

Check the research, and the letter rewrites in real time.

Send the packet

Copy the letter, share the PTA agenda, rally other parents in two taps.

Research you can use

94%

of parents support school-hour phone restrictions when asked directly.

Source: National Parents Union, 2024

15

U.S. states had bell-to-bell phone-free school laws or policies in 2024.

Source: Education Week, December 2024

72%

of public-school teachers say phones are a major problem during class.

Source: Pew Research Center, 2024

Your packet is taking shape

Fill in your name, principal, and school below to get started.

1

Your Details

2

Pick Your Talking Points

3

Your Letter, written for you

Fill in your details above and pick at least one talking point to activate.

4

PTA Meeting Agenda

Bonus · Questions to Bring

Questions to ask your school about classroom technology:

What apps/platforms are used in class? What data do they collect?

Is AI (ChatGPT, Gemini) allowed for homework? What's the policy?

Are students using Chromebooks unsupervised? What filters exist?

Does the school have an AI literacy curriculum?

Include these questions in my packet

The final product

Your School Action Packet

Everything above bundled into one shareable text: your letter, the PTA agenda, the questions to ask, and links to the resources. Send it to other parents or paste it into an email to your school in one tap.

Finish your details and talking points above first.

Schools That Did This

It is already happening.

FL

Florida

STATEWIDE

LA

Louisiana

STATEWIDE

SC

S. Carolina

STATEWIDE

LA

LA Unified

DISTRICT

Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina have passed statewide bell-to-bell phone-free school laws. Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest district in the U.S., did the same in 2024. Your school can follow.

More Resources

Schools Beyond Screens

National movement for phone-free schools

Tech-Safe Learning

Safe tech practices for schools

Common Sense Media

Age-based media ratings and digital citizenship

Wait Until 8th

Pledge to delay smartphones until a later grade

Phone-Free Schools Movement

Parents and educators pushing for bell-to-bell phone-free policies

The Digital Childhood, calm guidance for raising kids in a digital world