Do phone-free days, encourages mom

IT WILL be a familiar tale to most parents – a teenager who just won’t get off his smartphone.

But when Karly Tophill imposed a dramatic year-long ban to separate her teenage son from his iPhone, she was shocked by the change in his behaviour. Within six weeks, 13-year-old Dylan seemed happier, more talkative and energetic, spent more time on his homework and even volunteered to help her with household chores, she said.

Now Tophill, 41, is encouraging other parents to introduce one “phone-free” day a week for their families to see if they achieve similar benefits.

The mother of two said it would be a struggle to get him off his phone to prepare for school in the mornings.

“Dylan was using his phone too much,” she said.

“He’d be coming home from school and using it to play games for about two hours in the evening, and in the morning.

“Deep down, I didn’t think he liked being contacted constantly. He felt pressured to reply to friends.”

Finally, in October, she confiscated his iPhone 4 and imposed a year-long ban, which she admitted was unpopular at first.

However, six weeks later she noticed he was playing more with his brother Marley, 10, and spending more time outside and on his homework.

Tophill, who lives with her two sons and their father, Sam Kissling, 41, near Penzance in Cornwall, said the teen had even told his father he thought he was better off without the phone.

“Dylan takes much more time with homework now because he isn’t in a hurry to get it over with so he can check his Instagram.”

Tophill said the experiment had worked so well that she had relented over the yearlong ban and reduced it to three months. – Daily Mail