Getty ImagesParents are vowing to delay giving their children smartphones amid concerns about their impact on brain development.
Smartphone Free Childhood is a grassroots movement calling on parents to work together “to create a better childhood for our children,” and says thousands of people have signed its Parental Agreement. .
It has also received support from schools, with one headteacher in Surrey saying schools are considering allowing only “simplified telephones”.
one parent said bbc radio surrey She was trying to encourage her 11-year-old son to “live his childhood and not have it taken over by digital devices.”
Parents of more than 3,600 children in 317 schools in Surrey, according to Smartphone Free Childhood. signed an agreement More than 1,900 children study in 295 schools in Kent.
West Sussex has over 1,831 children in 195 schools and East Sussex has over 2,000 children in 170 schools.
Grace McClain, headteacher at St Lawrence Junior School in Molesey, Surrey, said only students aged 10 and over who had permission to walk home alone were allowed to bring mobile phones into school.
But she said the device would be kept under lock and key for the day and returned to the student when it was time to go home.
“What we found is that the moment a child gets their phone back, the first thing they do is turn it on, and the phone is like a magnet.” she said.
“Kids who don’t have smartphones flock to their phones.”
“Inappropriate”
Sophie Craig has one child at St. Lawrence and another in middle school.
She hopes the movement will grow and that not having a smartphone will become “normal.”
She admitted that being one of the first parents was “difficult.”
“But I will continue to use my gun because I understand the risks,” she added.
He added that the campaign is not about saying people should “never own a device,” but rather recognizing that “devices are not appropriate for children.”
