Last year, I invited the headteachers from all of the primary schools in my constituency of Chipping Barnet to meet with me about smartphones. A bunch of us gathered in the wonderful Church Hill school in our suburban corner of North London.
I started our discussion by asking them to show me, on a scale of one to ten, how worried they felt about the impact of smartphones on the young people they taught.
In all honesty, I was expecting a few sevens or eights - maybe even a few answers on the lower end.
But every single one of them had the same answer. Ten out of ten.
Teachers, parents, politicians - many of us have long been concerned about social media and smartphone use by young people. What children in this country are currently experiencing is an epidemic. Put simply, the wellbeing of a generation is at stake.
I’m worried about the heartbreaking rises in suicide and self-harm; increases in depression and anxiety diagnoses; the mental health of our children. About the rapid increases in online bullying; online grooming; ‘sextortion’. The awful things that young children get exposed to through the devices in their pockets. And about kids who are getting notifications every minute; the effect this is having on sleep and their overall development; the rising inability to concentrate and focus.
The evidence speaks for itself. 61% of Mumsnet users say their child is addicted to their phone or social media. But the incessant need to use smartphones doesn't end at the school gates. The Government’s most recent National Behaviour Survey found that 38% of teachers and 57% of pupils said that some, most or all lessons had been disrupted by mobile phones in the previous week.
Against this backdrop, after getting elected last year I got to work. I joined with Nova Eden from Smartphone Free Childhood, educators, and parents: we said no to smartphones in schools, and yes to an education free of distraction for our kids.
Earlier this year, because of our campaigning efforts, 103 primary schools in Barnet committed to going smartphone-free, with secondary schools following suit - making Barnet the first borough in the UK to do so.
The beginning of this new school year will mark the first smartphone-free term for many children across Barnet. They will engage in lessons without unrelenting notifications buzzing away, be present on the playground, dreaming up new worlds and playing games together. Without their smartphone hit, they will have space and time to imagine, play, and think independently.
There are so many teachers who have stepped up and supported this commitment, and I'm so fortunate to be able to work with so many incredible schools and educators in Chipping Barnet who truly put our children first. But I know we can go further.
Smartphone-free schools are just the beginning - as parents know, phones can do so much harm outside of the school gates.
Yet, parents are often stuck and isolated – they don’t want their child to be the only one in the class who doesn’t have a phone. No one wants to tell their child that they are the “only one who is missing out”. Families are left with an impossible choice – risk their child’s wellbeing by getting them a phone or risk their social relationships by choosing not to.
I encourage parents to engage with Smartphone Free Childhood if they want to find others in their area who are taking steps to delay or restrict smartphone use. This challenge becomes much more manageable if we tackle it together.
I’m proud of the steps we’ve already taken but there is always more to do.
Together, we can free our children from the risks of addiction, bullying and broken focus that smartphones pose – and give them back the childhoods full of play and imagination that they all deserve.