Technology is one of the most powerful forces shaping our children's lives. Some of it is wonderful. Some of it is maddening. We're a community of parents and schools trying to navigate it honestly, carefully, together.
What is Techlaration
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 this conversation together — families and educators alike — and work toward the right balance for our kids.
We're not against technology. We use it too. But there's a meaningful difference between technology that connects us and technology that colonizes us.
The declaration
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. A techlaration is a declaration of independence from technology as the default relationship shaping our children's lives. It's not anti-technology. It's pro-awareness and informed decision-making.
When you fill out 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.
Share your family's honest experience and join the community.
Make it official
The survey shows where your school stands. Signing is where you stand — by name if you choose, counted privately if you don't — alongside the other families who feel the same.
When enough families at your school have signed, your school's lead brings you together. Your email is never shown or shared, and this stays completely separate from the anonymous survey.
This isn't about adding pressure to your school's leaders — it's about removing risk. Remember that today's problems are caused by yesterday's solutions. We need to remove the risk of change. An organized, visible group of families lets a sympathetic administrator point to real community demand.
Sign the declaration →How it works
Share your family's honest experience and add your voice to the community.
As families at your school respond, a picture emerges of how your community is experiencing technology.
Once your school reaches its threshold, a verified parent lead brings the families together to lead change, with data and numbers behind you.
How change actually happens
The ask. A clear, school-level agreement on technology: a shared device policy, a defined floor on phone-free time, and a standing parent–school channel for ongoing deliberation and decisions.
Who decides. At most schools, this is the head of school and the board — supported by a faculty that sees families and educators on the same side of doing what kids need to thrive.
What winning looks like. A community that collaborates together — with data and families standing behind it so no one is out on a limb alone.
Our surveys
The personal leads. The school benchmark is how we measure how far the conversation has spread.
Share your family's honest experience with technology at home. Anonymous. Takes 8 minutes. Your responses count toward your school's community picture.
38 questions across 9 dimensions measuring your school's institutional stance on technology. One submission per school, completed by a parent rep or committee.
Our community
Techlaration grew out of a parent technology committee, but the "us" here isn't only parents. The teachers and administrators living these same questions inside the building are part of this community too — not the problem to be solved, but partners in solving it. Families and educators want the same thing: kids who can pay attention, to each other and to the work.
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 →In their own words
When you sign, you can tell us — in a line or two — why this matters in your home. Shared without your name, those lines become the most persuasive thing we can put in front of a school: not statistics, but families.
Add your why →Stay connected
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.