A parent-led community initiative

While we weren't looking,
childhood got colonized.

Tech companies work around the clock to capture and hold our children's attention. We're a community of parents working to take it back — with research, data, and each other.


Parents shouldn't have to figure this out alone.

We started as a parent committee at one NYC independent school. We quickly realized every school in our network was grappling with the same questions — and most were navigating them alone, without data, without coordination, and without the leverage that comes from numbers.

So we built Techlaration: a shared space to compare notes, benchmark where our schools actually stand, help hold each other — and our administrators — accountable, and advocate together for the changes our kids deserve.

We're not anti-technology. We use it too. But there's a meaningful difference between technology that supports us and technology that depletes us.

We hold these truths to be self-evident

1
Children are not the problem. The design of the technology is. Our kids deserve environments built for their development, not for engagement metrics.
2
Schools need to move faster. AI is accelerating every day. But awareness alone doesn't change policy — organized, informed parent communities do.
3
Collective action works. One parent asking a question is easy to ignore. Fifty schools asking the same question — with data — is not.
4
Home and school are connected. Policies at school matter more when families are aligned at home. We help with both.
5
Doing nothing is the same as giving in. Every day without intentional limits is a day the tech giants are making decisions about your child's attention, social life, and sense of self that you didn't get to make.

What is a techlaration?

A techlaration is a declaration of independence from technology as the default relationship shaping our children's lives. Children used to be shaped by relationships with their parents, their friends, their school, their community. Now their primary relationship is with their phone — TikTok, Instagram, and the constant pinging of platforms monetizing influence and attention.

When you sign the techlaration, you're not signing a petition. You're joining a conversation with the parents at your school and across our community who share your concerns and want to act on them together so we can all do better.

We know families are at different places on this. Some are alarmed. Some are skeptical. Most are somewhere in the middle, doing their best. All of it is welcome here.

I will be honest about where my school and family actually stand — not where I wish we stood.
I will use data, not just frustration, to advocate for change with school leadership.
I will talk to other parents — at my school and beyond — about what's working and what isn't.
I will pay attention to what's happening at home and be willing to look honestly at our own family's habits.
I will engage without judgment, recognizing that different children, families, and circumstances call for different choices — and that what matters most is that we're all thinking carefully and talking openly.
I believe childhood is worth protecting. I will act like it.

Ready to make your techlaration?

Take the family survey and add your voice to the community.

Take the survey →

What Techlaration actually does

01

Make your techlaration

Sign the declaration, take the family survey, and be honest about where your family actually is. That's the entry point.

02

See where your community stands

As families at your school take the survey, a picture emerges of how your community is experiencing technology at home. You're not alone — and now you have evidence of that.

03

See the bigger picture

Your responses contribute to a school-level and community-wide picture of where families actually stand. The school benchmark shows what's happening institutionally.

04

Build community

Coordinate with parents who share your concerns. Advocate with data behind you. Make change together.


Start with your family.

The personal leads. The school benchmark is how we measure how far the conversation has spread.


You're not the only parent asking these questions.

Techlaration grew out of a parent technology committee at one NYC independent school. We connected with similar groups across the city and built a shared infrastructure for data, advocacy, and mutual support.

If your school's parent group wants to participate — share your data, access ours, and coordinate — we'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch →
50+
NYC independent schools comparing notes and sharing data
9
Dimensions measured — from device policy to parent-school alignment
100s
Families engaged and growing across our community

Join the Techlaration community.

Get updates when school scores are published, when new features launch, and when there are opportunities to take collective action.

No spam. No selling your data. Just parents, helping parents.