How to join the anti smartphone campaign?

[Iona40]

In the news today was reported that a new campaign has been set up in aftermath of Brianna Ghey murder called Parents United for a Smartphone-Free Childhood ...anyone seen such a group??

Sure the campaign can tick a box to say they have 'done something' sure they have good intentions but do I think it would work? No chance

Whatever happened to parents talking to each other when dropping kids off at school? Who needs a smartphone to stop having smartphones. God can people just not parent?

When I was in school, one of the mums wouldn’t let her children watch tv (I don’t think they had one in the house, the children were secondary age). But this mum also didn’t like her daughter feeling left out, so she started a school campaign to try to persuade other parents to ban tv as well.

I would expect this campaign to work as well as hers did.

Several very good reasons: 1) Its a collective problem that requires a collective solution i.e., its a problem for children and their parents when all, or the vast majority, of other children have a smartphone and you don't want your child to have one. It puts huge peer pressure on your child and makes it difficult to be the only parent who says no. You worry they will be left out or bullied for not having one.
2) you need other parents to join you in making the decision not to give your child a smartphone so that they are not alone, to reduce the peer pressure on them and remove the ability for them to make the argument that they are the only one without one, all theri friends have them.
3) By agreeing with other parents that you are going to withold from giving your child a phone then you can hold each other accountable. It helps you stick to that decision.
4) Because even if you dont give your child a phone you cant protect them from other children with phones i.e. what they might see on another kids phone or how other kids might use their phones to take photos or videos and share them and bully them. So, the less kids with phones the better.
5) Parents need to make this choice early. By the time they get to the end of primary school its already too late because most kids will have one. Parents need to make the decision as a group because theres strength in numbers, one parent on their own will find it very hard to continue to resist their childs pleas as time goes by.

Finally, this is not about trying to get every parent not to give their child a smartphonephone. Of course there will always be many parents who want to give their child a smartphone, thats up to them. But this is about parents who do make this choice making it together to reduce the peer pressure and the impact on their kids and to make it easier for them and their kids.

This all makes perfect sense. Lots of parents feel the need for this, as shown by the numbers who have got involved, over 20 000 already! What I don't understand is why anybody else would have a problem with it. Can someone please explain that!

People are terrified of talking about things that matter to them, especially parenting, because its a deeply personal choice and people ae very defensive about their parenting choices. Parents rightly feel that it is their right to parent how they wish and its not for others to comment. Therefore, it is difficult to approach the subject with others. So, at best they might talk about the weather.

It already has worked, and is working, because it is giving thousands of parents the knowledge that they are not alone in their concerns about smartphones and the confidence to withold from giving one to their child. Its enabling them to get together and support each other to delay smartphones and its protecting and preserving the childhood of thousdands of children. So its worked and is working.

Bullying happened before smart phones. How about teaching your child to be kind.

They're adults, their campaign is about children.

@Waitingforsomethinginteresting - the aim is ultimately to stop the huge crisis in mental health amongst children and young people today. Gen X are significantly more depressed than Millennials and Gen Z. They’re the first generation where young people are more depressed than older people, it’s always been the other way round.

• Self harm has tripled since 2010 in girls
• Suicide seen 67% increase since 2012

Multiple studies have shown a sharp increase in poor mental health across different countries all with early 2010’s being the turning point - the time when smartphone use became ubiquitous amongst teens, when Meta bought instagram and started using algorithms on children for their own financial gain - see recent news about psychologist quitting Meta due to them failing to protect children

@MargaretThursday no one is saying stop smartphone use amongst adults - it’s how we communicate now and has many benefits. It’s delaying its use to allow children to be children. Just like we delay them drinking alcohol and having sex.

@somewhereovertherain I think we have different views of parenting - I see myself as parenting within a community, teaching my kids that they are part of a wider society. I see it that we’re all collectively responsible for the next generation

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, smartphone adoption is being widely supported in some countries to enable access to online learning, e health, levelling up opportunities for those in developing countries. This includes children.

I'm 36 and grew up without one, or the Internet. But my oldest (5) has app based homework, and he has a kindle fire, he loves the puzzles and maths games on there. I use my phone with ds when we're learning about mammoths for example, or looking up facts, or tips for minecraft (she mode, just building ideas and farming).

I think there's a place for smartphones. But something needs to be done about social media, bullying, etc, even just with the communication app groups. But bullying has been rife forever too, long before the Internet.

I see the same but that’s not effected by banning phones.

too many people just don’t parent and that’s why we seem to have some developing mental heath crisis that just doesn’t exist in most of the world. I also think some of our insane safeguarding rules don’t help young people get the help and support they need

our society is going down the shitter and one of the biggest problems is over mix of over parenting and also passing blame else where.

But it wasn't 24hrs a day 7 days a week like it is now. At least in the pre internet days we could go home and have some respite from school based issues.

For those people on here dismissing this issue as one that parents just need to deal with, can I suggest you watch the recording of last night's webinar with Jon Haidt.

I cannot give justice to what he spoke about on here but the research he has done since 2010 in the US and in GB is staggering.

I would also add that as a single parent to two 11 year olds approaching secondary and having made the decision ages ago not to give my children a smartphone until they are 14 ---- I feel alone against a tide and I cannot fight that tide alone. Having a UK wide community that might influence our government to actually do something is the only way we can reverse the damage (ref Jon Haidt) that has already been done.

Wade Collinge
says:
March 31, 2024 at 9:41 am

KUDOS to all of the parents and grandparents that think this way. I have suggested to the Prime Minister of Canada and all of the Premiers in this country to treat smartphones like we do alcohol. Against the law for children under 18, to get them totally out of the schools.
Children under 18 years of age not allowed to purchase or possess a smart phone, and replace childrens smart phones with the old style flip phones with no data capabilities (internet access).
That way, it would be a good “visual” for law enforcement—– similar to seeing a child walking down the street drinking a bottle of whiskey.Children could still call their parents and friends, send a text, take pictures, and be “tracked”. Peer pressure would be off of the children and parents. We would all have to help the current users suffer through the withdrawl, and in 7 or 8 short years it would be the norm. I am from Canada, and would very much like to join this group if one exists in Canada.Reply

@GrandfatherCollinge https://www.instagram.com/p/C5SjbKjIMw5/?igsh=cXBzcjR0d3BydGNw

There’s a webinar tomorrow evening for international groups

Jonathan Haidt X Smartphone Free Childhood talk - 21.03.24

has 15K views after being available for 6 months

Smartphone Free Childhood Global Groups Webinar - 02.05.24

has 757 views after being available for 5 months

Smartphone Free Childhood - Community Webinar 03.07.24

has 2.4K views after being available for 3 months

Why such a low numbers?
Not being able to beat the Google algorithms maybe?