On Tuesday, March 10, Piedmont Unplugged, a group dedicated to supporting healthier digital habits for youth, will host a free event for teens and families at a private home in Piedmont.
The evening will highlight a panel of college students from Reconnect Stanford, a student-led movement dedicated to helping others move away from social media and towards real connection. Panelists will share their experiences with rethinking their relationship with social media and offer practical insights for families seeking to create healthier boundaries around technology.
Piedmont Unplugged was launched in 2024 to help families create balanced limits around screens. “The Anxious Generation,” a best-selling book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about the global youth mental health crisis, smartphones and social media, was the catalyst for the group’s founding. “A handful of us read it at the same time, and we all felt the same sense of urgency,” says Piedmont Unplugged co-founder Melissa Partovi. “We realized that if we wanted something different for our kids, we needed to come together as a community.”
Inspired by the book’s research-based recommendations, Piedmont Unplugged focuses on four key pillars: no smartphones until high school, no social media until age 16, phone-free schools enforced throughout the day, and more opportunities for real-world connection and unstructured time.
In early February, Piedmont Unplugged hosted a launch party to celebrate Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price’s new book, “The Amazing Generation.” Over 50 Piedmont community members attended, and all received copies of the new book. Partovi led an engaging Q&A that highlighted the group’s initiatives and the Piedmont community’s focus on healthier habits around screens and personal devices at school and at home.
One of Piedmont Unplugged’s current priorities is advocating for a fully phone-free day at Piedmont High School. The organization is raising funds so that, if the PUSD chooses to implement a fully phone-free school day rather than the current partial phone-free policy, there will be no barriers to implementation. “A phone-free school day is a gift,” says Partovi. “Seven hours without a phone frees up our children to focus on school and their community.”
To join the free event on March 10, please visit the registration page.
Learn more about Piedmont Unplugged.