Opinion: Why Some Alameda Parents Are Waiting To Give Their Kids Phones

Like so many parents, we found ourselves talking with friends about how hard it is to raise kids in the age of screens. Between sports practices, homework apps, and constant notifications, childhood feels less free, less spontaneous, and less connected to the real world. This led to the obvious question: What can we do to change that for our kids?

Let us be clear, we’re not anti-technology. We’re just uneasy about how it has taken over our kids’ lives—and our own lives, too.

So, our neighborhood book club decided to read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, which put words and research to what we’d been feeling all along. Kids today are growing up in an environment that’s overprotected in the real world and underprotected online, and it’s making them anxious, dependent, and socially disconnected.

Around the same time, a friend mentioned that families in Piedmont had launched an initiative called Piedmont Unplugged, inspired by those same ideas. They are encouraging families to rethink kids’ relationship with technology and rebuild real-world independence. It clicked immediately.

If there were ever a Bay Area community where this could take root, it would be Alameda.

That’s how Alameda Unplugged was born. It’s a simple, local effort to give voice to what so many families here already feel—that we want our kids to be kids a little longer, and that we can make different choices when we make them together as a community.

Let’s be honest. The inertia of technology is strong. It’s easier to hand over a phone at dinner than to hear the kids whine that they’re bored. It’s easier to say “everyone else is doing it” than to be the only parent who says “not yet.” But the more we talked, the more we realized we’re not alone.

We needed a way to find each other. A place where it’s okay to question the default, share ideas, and support each other in giving our kids the gift of real-world experiences.

And we’re reminded every week that Alameda still makes room for that kind of connection. Go to Park Station on a Thursday evening or Almanac on a sunny afternoon and you’ll see it—kids running in circles around picnic tables, digging in the sandbox, battling it out on an old-school Pac-Man arcade game while their parents share a drink and a laugh. These are places where families can all be together, not just in the same space, but in the same moment. We’re so grateful to the local businesses that make this possible.

If we want Alameda to stay a place where kids can roam, we all have a part to play.

We can make it safer by slowing down when we drive and watching out for kids walking or biking. We can make it friendlier by welcoming the energy of kids running around breweries, restaurants, and parks instead of expecting them to sit quietly with a screen. And we can make it stronger by remembering that it really does take a village.

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If you see a child doing something unsafe, say something. Most of us parents appreciate it. Sometimes a gentle nudge from another adult lands even better than our own reminders. Not because kids don’t listen to us, but because there’s something powerful, and a little humbling, about being called to attention by a member of the community.

That’s what Alameda Unplugged is really about—creating a town where kids can be visible, free, and safe, and where all of us help make that possible. Alameda Unplugged isn’t a company, a nonprofit, or a campaign. It’s neighbors saying let’s do this differently.

Our mission is simple:

• Wait a little longer before giving kids smartphones (ideally after 8th grade) and social media (age 16 or older).
• Encourage more independence by walking to school, biking to the park, playing without constant supervision.
• Model healthy tech use ourselves, because our kids learn best from what we do.

This is about courage and community, not fear or guilt. It’s a purely “opt-in” movement. If this isn’t for you, we understand. But if this sentiment resonates with you, we encourage you to join us.

We launched Alameda Unplugged and a Substack newsletter to share resources, stories, and small ways to make unplugging feel possible, and to celebrate the families doing it.

Talk with your neighbors, start a conversation at your school, or simply take one small action.

Our kids will be alright—not because we gave them phones early, but because we gave them freedom early.

Because here in Alameda, life really does happen off the screen.

Alex Yakubov works in cybersecurity and Sarah Qualters works in brand marketing for a wine company. Both are Alameda parents and co-founders of Alameda Unplugged, a community initiative helping families embrace balanced tech use, real-world independence, and stronger local connections.