Why This? Why Now?

I’m a NYC dad of two young kids - a 2nd & 4th-grader. My biggest fear was finding them in a few years, locked in their bedrooms, doomscrolling through TikTok, comparing & despairing on Instagram or feeling excluded in front of a Snap Map.  As a parent, I feel it’s my job to step up before it’s too late.  

I know I can’t protect my kids from all of the struggles of adolescence, nor should I.  Learning how to make it through those difficult years is what gives us the grit for future success.  I’m also not anti-technology.  But hampering our kids’ freshly-minted minds with the almost-constant onslaught of addictive negative messaging seems wildly unfair.  

They deserve better.  

And your kids do, too.  Please join me and our growing community of concerned parents.

-Tad

Why I Started SmarterPhone

Our Team

  • Tad Low - Founder

    Tad is a journalist and Emmy-winning creator of television programs for networks including Animal Planet, Travel Channel and VH1, where his ground-breaking Pop-Up Video series earned 13 Emmy nominations. He was a correspondent & producer for MTV News, CBS News & Good Morning America. A graduate of Yale University, his creative work and memorabilia are housed in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives.

  • Jill Savitt - Board Member

    Jill, the President and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, is a human rights advocate with expertise in genocide and atrocity prevention. She assumed the role in March 2019, but has been involved with The Center since 2010 when she curated the Center’s exhibit on global human rights.

    Previously, Savitt was the Acting Director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The Center stimulates global action to prevent genocide and to catalyze an international response when it occurs.

  • David Venderbush - Board Member

    David, an attorney with 30 years of experience, is well-known for his work handling high-profile product liability and consumer fraud cases spanning multiple jurisdictions. He has participated in several high-profile trials, managing legal issues and trial briefing, and has briefed and argued to state and federal appellate courts. A graduate of Yale and Stanford, he is also a five-time Jeopardy! champion.

Success

We sincerely believe that the challenge of keeping social media away from our kids is among the most urgent of our generation as parents. It’s also among the most complex. Change requires navigating the twin headwinds of schools’ ever tightening and self perpetuating embrace of digital tooling and parental collective action, often stymied by decisions made for older siblings.

In our first year we made great progress. And we’re just getting started.

  • We met with Senator Chuck Schumer to advocate for the passing of federal legislation, KOSA and COPPA (2.0).

  • We organized grade-specific meetings for parents and guardians where expert guest speakers helped galvanize support for our parental commitment, leading to collective agreements that have reached almost half of all parents in two full grades.

  • We persevered and following repeated outreach to heads of school, PA presidents, health & wellness leaders and board members, we saw a policy change in a private middle school together with strong, clear messaging from the administration, and the introduction of lockable Yondr bags starting in middle school.