Six minutes—this is the average time that passes before a smartphone user checks their phone.
Nine hours—this is the average daily screen time for a member of Gen Z.
A hundred and fifty pacts—this is how many classes in Chabad schools around the world have come together to create a more wholesome environment for their kids.
Look out for the M.U.S.T. magazine arriving in your mailboxes to Crown Heights families and 18 participating Anash communities worldwide.
M.U.S.T., Mothers United to Stall Technology, launched in Crown Heights when a group of nine moms realized that phones were “becoming a social necessity,” says Chanie Marozov, one of the founders of the Crown Heights chapter.
The M.U.S.T. class pacts empower parents to push off giving kids their own smart devices for as long as possible. By banding together, “we can give our kids back their childhood,” says Chanie.
The production of the magazine, a project over 6 months in the making, is generously subsidized by donations from local sponsors and fundraising efforts. “We are humbled by the local businesses who support M.U.S.T.’s cause,” says Gila Schechter, director of finance. Aside from Crown Heights, 18 communities around the world raised the funds needed to bring the publication to their cities.
In 68 glossy full-color pages, you can read about the Rebbe’s perspective on technology, research-based articles on parenting in the digital age, anecdotes from moms who switched to dumb phones, and even take a quiz about your current tech habits.
Editorial director Chava Witkes worked closely with the talented M.U.S.T. team to compile a well-rounded collection of essays and expert opinions from community leaders like Dr. Eli Rosen, Rabbi Yossi Paltiel, Rabbi Shais Taub, and Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson. The goal is to shed new light on what’s become an “epidemic of anxiety,” according to Dr. Eli Rosen, or “just plain distractedness,” according to Rabbi Yossi Paltiel.
“The best way to handle technology is to admit that it’s addictive and dangerous,” says Chaviva New, M.U.S.T. team member and founder of Neshamos.org, who partnered with M.U.S.T. to produce the magazine.
“I watched my teens get their first devices and suddenly become secluded from the family,” says Simcha Minkowitz, a MUST team member.
The reality is that smart devices can interfere with the wholesomeness, creativity, and true friendships that have always been a part of childhood. Batya Tenenbaum joined the M.U.S.T. team because, “I want my children—and all our kids—to have their childhood.”
MUST chapters are active in over 30 Chabad communities around the world, including Pheonix, Pittsburgh, Kingston, South Florida, Chicago, Brazil, Montreal, Baltimore, Monsey, Los Angeles, Atlanta, South Africa, Cleveland, New Haven, and Australia. If M.U.S.T. does not yet exist in your community, there is no better time to start a new chapter.
Because only without constant notifications interrupting both teens and their parents is a real connection possible. “Today it’s hard to imagine how much our kids can benefit from the simple things—playing outdoors, hanging out with friends, or spending quality time with us,” says Estee Leiblich, a M.U.S.T. team member and parenting coach, who sees firsthand how smart devices are harming family dynamics.
“It’s a failed experiment…and we are the losers,” concludes Dr. Eli Rosen, Crown Heights pediatrician of over twenty years, who has noticed a dramatic spike in anxiety in children.
“So much of our phone habits have become completely automatic and without any thought,” says Chanel Lipskier, M.U.S.T. team member and founder of Crown Heights Women’s Circle.
“Everyone’s families, marriages, and productivity can benefit from a long, hard look at the way we use our devices,” adds Esther Rosen, M.U.S.T. team member.
Rivky Diamond, M.U.S.T. team member joined the cause because, “Life begins when we stop scrolling.”
Hopefully the insights, statistics, and perspectives shared in the M.U.S.T. magazine will help guide the community through one of the most important crises of our generation. Because like the magazine so aptly declares: change is always possible, and it always starts with us.
To request a hard copy of MUST’s newly-published magazine, support this important cause, or start a MUST chapter or pact, visit must-ch.org.
Click here to download a sample of the Magazine.
Brilliant initiative.
I’m overjoyed and relieved to hear of this important and praiseworthy effort to shield our children from the debilitating influence of unchecked internet usage that is unfortunately plaguing many of our young children.
I hope though that this organization will emphasize and seek out tools for an important caveat and truth when it come to child-rearing:
What parents consistently do (especially in front of their kids), the children are bound to repeat. So at the same time that parents delay their children’s use of smartphones, they need to come up with some solution to their own overuse of technology…