Ireland: Town unites in smartphone ban for young children

‘Much easier to say no’: Irish town unites in smartphone ban for young children

Parents and schools across Greystones adopt voluntary ‘no-smartphone code’ in bid to curb peer pressure
by Rory Carroll, Ireland Correspondent, theguardian.com, 3 June 2023

On the principle of strength in numbers, parents in the Irish town of Greystones have banded together to collectively tell their children they cannot have a smartphone until secondary school.

(Photo): Schools and parents in the Co Wicklow town took action amid concerns smartphones were fuelling anxiety and exposing children to adult material. Photograph: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy

On the principle of strength in numbers, parents in the Irish town of Greystones have banded together to collectively tell their children they cannot have a smartphone until secondary school.

Parents’ associations across the district’s eight primary schools have adopted a no-smartphone code to present a united front against children’s lobbying.

“If everyone does it across the board you don’t feel like you’re the odd one out. It makes it so much easier to say no,” said Laura Bourne, who has a child in junior infants. “The longer we can preserve their innocence the better.”

Schools and parents in the County Wicklow town took the initiative last month amid concern smartphones were fuelling anxiety and exposing children to adult material. It is a rare example of an entire town taking joint action on the issue.

The voluntary pact is to withhold smartphones from children – at home, in school, everywhere – until they enter secondary school. Applying it to all children in the area will, it is hoped, curb peer pressure and dampen any resentment.

“Childhoods are getting shorter and shorter,” said Rachel Harper, the principal of St Patrick’s school who led the initiative. Nine-year-olds had started requesting smartphones, she said. “It was creeping in younger and younger, we could see it happening.”

Previously the schools banned or restricted devices on their grounds but still saw the effect of social media on children who had phones – and how this piqued the curiosity of other pupils.

A town-wide policy reduces the chance of a child having a peer with a smartphone and parents can present the code as a school rule, said Harper. “They love it – now they can blame the schools.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/03/much-easier-to-say-no-irish-town-unites-in-smartphone-ban-for-young-children