When your child asks for a smartphone, try saying “no.” As parents everywhere can attest, what happens next starts with: “Everyone has one. Why can’t I?”
But what if there isn’t a preteen in sight who owns a smartphone? That’s the endgame for a growing number of parents in Europe, who worry that their young children’s use of smartphones could endanger their safety and mental health, and who firmly believe that there is strength in numbers.
Parents from Spain to the UK and Ireland have flooded WhatsApp and Telegram groups with plans not only to ban smartphones from schools, but to join forces to refuse to buy devices for their children in their teens and even into their teenage years.
Inspired by a conversation she had with other moms in a Barcelona park last fall, Elisabet García Permanyer created a chat group to share stories about families with children in their schools. Dangerous information about using the Internet.
The group, called Cell Phone-Free Youth, quickly expanded to other schools and then the country, and now has more than 10,000 members. The most involved parents formed activist pairs in schools across Spain and urged other parents to agree not to buy their children smartphones until they turn 16. real-world conversations to further their movement.
“When I started this project, I just hoped to find four other families who thought like me, but it started to blossom and just kept growing, growing, growing,” García Permanyer explain. “My goal was to try to join forces with other parents so we could delay the advent of smartphones. I said, ‘I’m going to try so that my kids aren’t the only ones who don’t have kids.’
Promoted with the assistance of the Spanish Government
Not just parents.
Police and public health experts are sounding the alarm over a surge in violent and pornographic videos being watched by children on handheld devices. The Spanish government took note of the momentum and in January imposed a blanket ban on smartphones in primary schools. Now, they can be enabled in high schools starting at age 12 only if the teacher deems the educational activity necessary.
“If we adults are addicted to our smartphones, how can we give it to a 12-year-old kid who doesn’t have the ability to handle it?” asked Garcia Permanye. “That’s gone away from us. It would be great if the Internet was a safe space for kids. But it’s not.
The movement has gained momentum in Britain this year after the mother of Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old girl who was murdered by two teenagers last year, began calling for a ban on social media for children under 16 on their smartphones.
“It feels like we all know (buying smartphones) is a bad decision for our children, but social norms haven’t caught up yet,” said Daisy Greenaway, a mother of three children under 10 in Suffolk, England. Daisy Greenwell posted on social media. “What if we could change social norms so that giving a kid a smartphone at age 11 is an odd choice in our schools, our towns, our country? What if we could delay it until they’re 14 or What about 16?
She and her friend Clare Reynolds set up a WhatsApp group of three people called Parents United for a Smartphone-Free Childhood. She posted the invitation on her Instagram page. Within four days, 2,000 people had joined the group, which Greenwell and Reynolds needed to break into dozens of groups based on location. Three weeks after the initial post, a chat group had been set up in every county in the UK, one organizer said on WhatsApp.
It’s a tough climb
Parents have banded together to ban their young children from using smartphones. There is still a long way to go to change the so-called “normal” phenomenon.
Statistics from these three countries show that by the age of 12, most children have a smartphone. Look closer and the numbers become even more stark: in Spain, one in four children has a mobile phone by the age of 10, and by the age of 11, almost half have one. %. British media regulator Ofcom said 55% of British children aged 8 to 11 own a smartphone, rising to 97% by the age of 12.
Ofcom added yet another statistic to last year’s report: one in five children aged 3 or 4 owns a smartphone.
Parents and schools who have successfully reversed the community paradigm told The Associated Press that the change was made possible when they realized they were not alone. What started out as a tool to stay connected with friends has morphed into something more worrisome to keep kids away from — similar to things like cigarettes and alcohol, these parents assert.
Last May, in Greystones, Ireland, all eight primary school principals in the town signed and published a letter discouraging parents from buying smartphones for their students. Parents then voluntarily signed a written pledge not to allow their children to own the devices.
“The discussion ended almost overnight,” said Christina Capatina, 38, a Greystones parent with two pre-teen daughters. , she signed the pledge and said there will be almost no smartphones in schools this school year. “If (children) ask now, you tell them: We just follow the rules. This is how we live.
For Barcelona’s Mónica Marquez, there is no need to sign a commitment to achieve the same result. Two years ago, she polled parents in her daughter’s grade and was surprised to find that “99 percent of them were as scared as I was, if not more scared.”
She shared the results of the questionnaire and said that this year, when her daughter started high school, not a single student in her grade owned a smartphone.
As for the other excuse that kids need a smartphone so parents can monitor them, Marks said an older phone with no internet access, like the one her daughter carries, is a perfect substitute.
Increasing scrutiny
For years, there has been a consensus among agencies, governments, parents and others that smartphone use among children is linked to bullying, suicidal ideation, anxiety and difficulty concentrating on learning. China last year moved to restrict children’s use of smartphones, while France banned smartphones in schools for children aged 6 to 15.
Spain’s push to control smartphones comes amid a surge in notorious cases of children viewing online pornography, sharing sexually violent videos and even taking part in creating “deepfake” pornographic images of female classmates using generative artificial intelligence tools. The Spanish government states that 25% of children aged 12 and under and 50% of children aged 15 and under have been exposed to online pornography. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says Spain is facing a “real epidemic” of pornography targeting minors.
These threats include adults taking advantage of minors they meet online, such as the recent arrests of two “influencers” in Madrid for allegedly sexually assaulting underage girls who followed them on TikTok.
These dangers have led to bans on smartphones in schools and the creation of cybersecurity laws. But these don’t address what kids do during their off-duty hours.
“What I try to stress to other principals is the importance of joining the school next door to you,” said Rachel Harper, principal of St. Patrick’s National School, one of eight schools in the Greystones region that encourage One of the schools where parents are told not to use smartphones. “It’s more empowering because all the parents in the district are talking about it.”
Parents’ concerns are diverse. Some people worry that one day their children will demand a cell phone like their friends. Others have cellphones as teenagers and regret having drifted away during the innocent stages when screens were just a way for kids to play and chat with friends. Parents say they have overcome their ignorance about the Internet.
Staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed them first-hand as children stare at screens and cleverly hide what they see on them and what discovers them.
“Screens are seen as a safety valve,” said Macu Cristófol, who set up a group of worried parents in Malaga, southern Spain, after hearing about their growing group. , allowing adults to work and kids to have something to do, whatever that means. “I was like, where are we going? We’ve become hostages to the screen.
Kapatina said she saw a change in her 11-year-old daughter the day she came home from the playground, and shared that a girl there recorded a video of the scene on her smartphone.
“Panic, panic, panic,” Kapatina recalled her daughter’s reaction. “Nothing really major happened,” Capatina said, “but I saw an increase in stress and anxiety levels from before. I thought, this is not healthy. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about stuff like this.”
But if their children don’t have smartphones, will parents spend less time online? Several parents said it was difficult because they had to manage their families and work online. Kapatina, an interior designer, said she shows her children “holding herself accountable” by showing her what she does online – such as work or scheduling.
Laura Borne, mother of a 5- and 6-year-old in Greystones, had never had a smartphone. And she should probably cut back on that.
“I’m trying my best,” she said. But like her parents’ children, there was pressure. They won’t disappear.
