It’s long been established (well, since the 2007 game show, at least) that most adults are not in fact smarter than a fifth-grader. But I’ve got a different game-show idea for parents in 2025: Are you mentally stronger than a fifth-grader — specifically, one who is relentlessly begging for a phone every single day while you are just trying to find five minutes to relax? In my house, where I live with a currently phone-free 11-year-old, I’m technically winning this game right now. But unfortunately, I’m not having any fun. That misery is at the center of Liz Krieger’s fascinating story out today, in which she reveals what happens when anti-phone parents give up the game and buy their child an iPhone. But unlike many other stories that delve into this scenario, this piece isn’t about how the tweens then become phone-addicted and depressed. Rather, it depicts the social awkwardness and shame that ensues for the parent, who has to alert their comrades in anti-phone advocacy that they’ve gone to the other side. Liz’s report includes anecdotes and raw emotions from holdouts and cavers — also known as the betrayers and the betrayed. I think it’s a funny, honest, and relatable look at what it’s like to raise kids today, and it shows just how difficult it can be to find sustained support through the hardest parts.
—Julia Edelstein, features editor, New York
