The small Irish town of Greystones has made a drastic decision. Collectively, all the parents of the town have agreed to prohibit the use of the smartphone to their children before their arrival at college. If they can still use it at home, their parents have a good excuse to make them wait a few more years.
The debate has been raging for years: should you let your young children use a smartphone daily? While some worry about the impact of smartphones on the cognitive abilities of the youngest, a small Irish town has decided to take matters into its own hands. In Greystone, all schools have teamed up with the municipality to ban cellphones for children before they enter middle school, around the age of 11.
The measure was passed as many officials noticed signs of anxiety in children caused by social pressure to have a smartphone as well as the risks of exposure to adult content. For worried parents, this measure fell from the sky: “now they can blame it on the school”laughs Rachel Harper, director of the establishment at the origin of the movement.
Related —2-Year-Old Ordered 31 Burgers at McDonald’s Using Mom’s Smartphone
Parents unite to ban smartphones at school
“If everyone does it, you don’t feel like you’re apart. So it’s much easier to say no.”underlines Laura Bourne, mother of a child in primary school, before adding: “The longer we can preserve their innocence, the better. » A measure that also delights parents visibly overwhelmed by events, who have a hard time understanding their child’s interest in this small screen.
“It’s the bane of my life, I lost my daughter”laments Nikkie Barrie, mother of an 11-year-old daughter. “When tech is involved, they sit like robots gobbled up by TikTok or whatever”. Either way, the project has caught the eye of Ireland’s health minister, Stephen Donnelly, who wants to make the country “a global leader in ensuring that children and young people are not targeted and harmed by the digital world”.
Source: The Guardian