HGTV Hosts Tout Movement To Keep Smart Phones Out Of Elementary Kids’ Hands: ‘Something We’ve Caught A Lot of Criticism About’

The hosts of HGTV‘s Home Town Takeover promoted their new parents’ group to help keep kids off social media, with Ben Napier admitting that it’s “something we’ve caught a lot of criticism about.”

Ben and Erin Napier appeared on CNN News Central Friday, where they discussed the group they named Osprey: Old School Parents Raising Engaged Youth.

“So, Osprey is a grassroots initiative that is elementary-age kids and their families fostering social lives without social media. I think that’s really key to what we hope our movement becomes, is that it starts in elementary school, before our kids have exposure to devices or have any need for them,” Erin said.

“Which is something that we’ve caught a lot of criticism about because we don’t have teenagers yet, and all of that,” Ben interjected.

ERIN NAPIER: That’s the point. You have to begin now. Because phones become ubiquitous in about fifth grade. We’re learning, like, 80% of kids who are 10 years old have a smartphone. If you begin when your children are in kindergarten through fifth grade, and you start finding other families who have this same plan and belief in your kids could rely on each other, then they have social lives without social media. That is the goal.

BEN NAPIER: And the whole point of Osprey, then, and building your nest, is that it eliminates the, you know, the discussion of ‘oh, well I’m the only kid that doesn’t have it.’ No, you’re not. We know for a fact that your friends don’t have it.

ERIN NAPIER: None of your friends have it. And that’s the goal.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar agreed with the concept claiming, “It is such an interesting point. Because it is so much easier to set the expectation going in than to pull back on the social media once you’re already in it. I think any parent can agree with that.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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