Parents have been asked to sign up to a pledge to keep smartphones away from their children until they have, at least, finished primary school.
Some 250 parents from 13 primary schools in North Dublin attended a meeting at the Dublin 7 Educate Together National School where it was suggested that peer pressure to own a phone would be a lot less if parents agreed collectively to a ban.
The initiative has already taken place in Greystones, Co Wicklow and in Killarney, Co Kerry where schools have combined to adopt a smartphone-free childhood policy within local schools in the towns.
The draft pledge proposed to schools in the Dublin 7 and Dublin 15 areas commits a smartphone-free children for the duration of primary school with the caveat: “I/we understand that basic phones [call/text only] may be necessary for some families, but smartphones with internet access and apps will be delayed until, at least, secondary school.”
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Pelletstown Educate Together National School principal Caitríona Ní Cheallaigh said a survey among parents locally showed overwhelming support for a ban on smartphones for younger children though parents are divided by the time children get to sixth class.
She suggested that it is not enough for parents in one school to ban smartphones, it has to be a community-wide given the interactions between children from different schools.
“We are hoping that this community initiative will enable parents to know that their child will not be the only one who does not have a phone.”
Children and Adult Mental Health Services senior clinical psychologist Dr Eleanor Griffith said she has never heard of a parent who was glad to have given their child a mobile phone.
“Generally, they say it is because of peer pressure because their child isn’t left out,” she explained.
“We see a big impact on sleep and that has a knock-on effect on their mental health. Young children are struggling to sleep because they are on devices all the time.”
Psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor said having a smartphone is not a “human right”.
You have to earn the right by showing responsibility and children have to be given the time to be responsible with smartphone, he explained, and self-regulation of smartphone use for children is “next to near impossible” when adults are also struggling.
“Bans are not the answer, but they might buy time for children and young teenagers to be ready for it rather than giving them to them when they are socially and emotionally incapable of navigating things like that.”
He said that while issues around cyberbullying, access to pornography and grooming often get the most attention around smartphones and children, the effects can be more insidious and widespread.
Time spent on smartphones is time that previous generations of children spent with their peers, reading or playing sport outside.
“Teenagers can feel very lonely, empty and a bit directionless because they spend so much time in a place that is so soulless,” he said.
“A lot of the big issues around young people and low life satisfaction are because of constant comparisons and the tyranny of choice.”
Parent Fergus McCardle, who has three and six-year-old children, said he is in favour of “building a collective” around smartphone use. If only one child in a class has access to snapchat, they don’t have an outlet to use it if there is a general ban.
Claire McInerney, who has two daughters (9 and 14) said she agreed with a smartphone ban until sixth class but there is a “jump from primary to secondary school and it is a good idea to get them used to having a phone before the end of sixth class so they don’t have to navigate all of that while also starting in a secondary school.”
