Free your child from smartphones’ grips! 

Round & About

“We’re not anti-tech, we’re pro childhood,” says Gemma Taylor who is championing Smartphone Free Childhood  

“I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of giving my 11-year-old a smartphone when she started secondary school. And yet I was about to sleep walk into giving her one as everyone around us, all her friends, were being given them.” 

A sentiment that will strike a chord with many parents as the new term starts, especially for those starting secondary education. 

Gemma Taylor was introduced to Smartphone Free Childhood by a friend and said it “gave me the confidence to stick to my guns in not getting her a smartphone and start to more actively encourage other parents to do the same”.  

As Gemma says, it’s not easy to be that parent to go against the grain. SFC has established Parent Pact which encourages parents to unite and make local collective action. Across their regions, they are speaking with school leaders, parents, hosting information evenings at schools or in public spaces and speaking with MPs and councillors to highlight this issue and create conversations around the problem. Via the Parent Pact, parents can be united in delaying giving children smartphones until the age of 14 and social media until 16.   

Almost 140,000 pacts have been signed nationally with Surrey leading the regions and high levels of take up in Hampshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire too. 

“Parents are in an impossible position – either they give their child a smartphone with all the known harms, or they isolate them from their peers at a crucial time in their development,” she adds. “This is not about good or bad parenting. Every parent in every home across the country is grappling with this question of when to get their child a smartphone and how to protect them once they do. There is a vacuum of information or guidance from the government or the NHS about what age is the right age to get a smartphone, or how young is too young. Currently all the responsibility to protect children lies on the shoulders of parents.” 

Find out more & sign up at smartphone freechildhood.org/parent-pact 

So what are the issues with Smartphones? 

Addictive by design: Smartphones are experience-blockers, preventing kids from engaging in the real world and having the childhood experiences that are vital for their healthy development. Kids are commonly spending 6, 7, 8, 9 hours a day on their devices, often more according to Ofcom, which is the same as a part-time job! 

Mental health impacts: Research shows that the younger kids get their first smartphone, the worse their mental health is today.  

Harmful content: Having unrestricted access to the internet in your pocket creates a gateway to extreme content and viewpoints that we wouldn’t expose our children to in real life. 

Not to mention cyberbullying, sleep deprivation, attention problems, family arguments over screen time, etc…