Technology Parents club together to stave off early smartphone use
HUNDREDS of Bristol parents have come together to take action against children using smartphones.
They are part of a growing national campaign called Smartphone Free Childhood. One of the measures parents of primary school children are taking is to create ‘pacts’ where they decide as a group to collectively delay the age they give their child a smartphone. In the past couple of months, 80 groups have formed in the Bristol Smartphone Free Childhood WhatsApp community, including for individual primary and secondary schools. Alongside voluntary agreements between parents, those active in the movement are looking into ways they can work with their school and influence policies.
Bristol parent Ellie, whose children are currently five and 10, joined the Smartphone Free Childhood movement in February, after reading an article about it online.
Her children go to Whitehall Primary in East Bristol and she is among 53 parents in the school group. Like other schools in the city they are collecting survey responses on parents’ attitudes to delaying their purchase.
Once they have compiled the results they plan on approaching the headteacher with a view to gaining support. Like other parents and advocates of the movement, Ellie believes that even if only a quarter of parents volunteer to form a pact, it will shift the culture, or at least make it easier for them to refuse their child’s demands on getting one.
Ellie says her 10-year-old son does not have a smartphone and neither does any of his peer group. But she believes the problem is more about the addictive technology than the phones themselves.
“When I saw the generation above my children, lying to their parents about losing their phones so they could have them overnight and reading more about the topic, it confirmed everything that I knew intuitively. The addictive technology that’s used to sell advertising is harder to control on smartphones.
“There are huge mental health implications. My son is aware that there are some kids in his year who already have a phone and he is at the point where it will soon become the norm. We are hoping the culture will shift. The idea is to create a critical mass of parents so that those children who don’t have one, don’t feel left out,” explained Ellie.
Ofcom reported in 2022 that 71 per cent of eight to 11-year-olds use a mobile phone to go online. In the latest Ofcom report regarding children’s social media use, published in April 2024 an increase of five to seven-year-olds were spending time online compared to the previous year.
While the 2024 report raises concerns over the influence of advertising, spread of false information and risky online behaviours, it also highlights that children and young people increasingly using the internet for homework and social interaction among their peers.
While 54 per cent parents surveyed believe that the benefits outweigh the risks when their child is using the internet to gather information, only 27 per cent believe this to be the case with social media and instant messaging apps.