Sometimes Parliament finds itself way behind public opinion on a certain issue. When I decided to use the opportunity of a Private Member’s Bill to tackle children’s excessive smartphone and social media use, I was met with a swell of support from parents, teachers and children themselves.
An existing campaign, Smartphone Free Childhood, already had 150,000 parents signed up, calling for change. Within weeks, 98% of MPs had been contacted by constituents asking them to support the Bill. Westminster has fallen behind where the rest of the country are on the issue and I am determined to fix that.
I began my career as a teacher just as smartphones were beginning to enter the classroom. Even then it was clear they were going to have an impact on childhood, but the scale of the harm they were going to have could not have been imagined. Since then, both the devices and the apps on them have become deliberately far more addictive.
Today, the average 12 year old in the UK spends 21 hours a week on their smartphone. Screen time has become the most dominant activity for children outside of school, replacing sports, learning, meeting people face to face, and all the other things us adults cherish from our childhood.
Evidence of the harm this is having on children is building. Excessive screen time has been linked to increased rates of ADHD. For children already disposed to ADHD, excessive screen time can worsen their attention span, and hamper their ability to develop social skills and regulate their emotions. Excessive screen time has also been linked to increasing rates of shortsightedness among children, as they’re spending less and less time outdoors. For certain children, their phone is an irresistible portal to a world of unachievable body standards, toxic masculinity, violent or sexual content, and intense cyber bullying.
The government is commissioning a new study to gather evidence of the impact of social media and smartphone use on children. This is welcome and will add to the growing body of evidence that already exists. But ask any parent, teacher or child and they don’t need a government commissioned research project to tell you that we need to act now. A recent study from Onside found that 76% of young people spend most of their time on their phones and 52% of them want to cut back.
The problem is that smartphones have become such a presence in children’s lives that change requires collective action. One parent taking action can lead to their child being socially excluded. This is where the government has such an important role to play.
That is why when I was lucky enough to have come fifth in the ballot of Private Members’ Bills I chose this issue to focus on. In a slightly strange process, a lottery is taken at the start of each Parliamentary session that allows a small number of MPs to present a Bill to Parliament. Quite a daunting task, especially only a matter of weeks into the job.
Private Members' Bills notoriously struggle to make it onto the statute book and are limited in what they can do. Convincing the government to do something they hadn’t planned to do is a difficult business.
The details of my Bill are still being finalised, and I am holding weekly sessions with experts from across the sector to ensure we have a Bill that is workable, politically viable, and will have an impact. Currently, there are three things we are looking to do:
- Raise the age of digital consent from 13 to 16. This would bring Britain in line with the GDPR standard and countries like Germany. This would help parents have more control over their child’s use of the internet and protect children from powerful algorithms trying to keep them hooked to their screens.
- Strengthen Ofcom’s powers to protect children from apps that are designed to be addictive, giving them a specific mandate to protect children’s interests and new powers to enforce a code of conduct to prevent children being exposed to ‘addictive by design’ apps and services.
- Produce independent public health advice on the impacts of smartphones and ‘addictive by design’ app use on children’s health and wellbeing and issue public health guidance.
As I finalise the details of the Bill, I want to hear from parents themselves about the effect smartphones are having on their family and how they think the issue should be tackled.
The second reading will be on the 7th March which is when MPs will have a chance to debate and vote on the Bill. If you support the measures I have laid out, make sure to contact your MP and ask them to vote in favour of the Safer Phones Bill.