‘Children need to play outside and read books’

PARENTS Natalie and Kieran Moriarty have welcomed the pilot initiative at St John’s National School in Kenmare, where their daughter is in fourth class.

They made a pact with other parents in their daughter’s class that they would not buy their children a smartphone until they reached second level.

Natalie, who works as a graphic designer, told the Irish Daily Mail that she and Kieran have rowed in behind the initiative and would like to see it rolled out across the entire school next year.

She said: ‘I have three children and two of them are in the school: my son is in senior infants and my daughter is in fourth class. We attended the meeting with other parents and listened to what they had to say. We decided it was a good idea. While it wasn’t really a huge issue in our house, because my husband and I feel very strongly about technology, we were coming under pressure from our daughter because a lot of her friends have phones.

‘In her class, something like 12 kids have smartphones and I was very shocked to hear this. We told her a long time ago that she won’t be getting a phone until she’s in secondary school. We made an agreement with the parents of her close friends that we will all stick to this pact.

‘It makes it easier when the child feels they are not missing out.’

Natalie said she sees gaming as a bigger issue with boys, while girls seem to be more inclined towards using social media.

Through her work as a graphic designer, she has worked with another mother in the school, who has written a book called Timmy’s Technology Trouble.

Written by local author Niamh Ahern and illustrated by Valentina Boschi, with design expertise from Natalie, the book has been a big hit so far.

Natalie said: ‘Timmy is a really happy, funloving little boy. He has a dog called Bruno who loves to hang about with him. Timmy loves when his friends come to his house to play. When technology is introduced to his life, things begin to change.’

Natalie said she and Kieran will be continuing the tech detox into the new year.

‘Children need to be allowed to be children, playing outside and reading books. That’s how we were all raised,’ she said.