In a proactive move reflecting growing concerns over children’s well-being, parents from the Irish town of Greystones, a town merely 45 minutes from Dublin, have collectively resolved to implement a smartphone ban for children until they conclude their elementary education.
Justyna Flynn, a distinguished clinical psychologist and mother of three attending school in Greystones, voiced her observations on “Fox & Friends”
“It was just the striking results of the rising anxiety, depression and everything we noticed … of having a mobile phone, especially among young kids.” She went on to laud the community’s backing, remarking, “The support this town got was incredible.”
This parental decree, as reported by The Guardian, emerged from collaborations between parent associations across eight schools in Greystones. Their collective determination was fueled by two primary concerns: an alarming increase in childhood anxiety and the possibility of children encountering unsuitable content.
The consensus was clear: children should be spared from smartphone exposure at home, school, and elsewhere until their entry into middle or high school.
Although schools had already implemented certain curbs regarding device usage on their premises, these parents deemed a broader restriction necessary for the well-being of their children.
Flynn shed light on this concern, emphasizing, “I think the access the kids have to internet, or the internet having access to our children – we don’t know what’s going on there.”
Her aspirations extend further, hoping such constraints will continue during the middle and high school years.
Flynn elaborated on the detriments, stating, “The brain is not developed [for children] … their use of the phone is associated with anxiety, depression, obesity, sleeping disorders and many other health problems.”
Corroborating these apprehensions, a report from the United Nations, highlighted by the BBC, indicated that smartphones are “distracting students from learning and increasing risks to their privacy at the same time.”
Moreover, the British Department for Education suggested that such devices often lead to “distraction, disruption, bullying and abuse and can be detrimental to learning,” thereby advising educators to ponder over their restriction to mitigate these threats.
Manos Antoninis, who penned the 2023 Global Education Monitor report, urged for a nuanced approach. He suggested that “only technology that supports learning has a place in school.”
He also advised that children shouldn’t be insulated “entirely” from technology, emphasizing the necessity of a dialogue concerning the right kind of technology suitable for academic environments.
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Lending his weight behind the Greystones initiative, Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, a local to the area, expressed fervent support for a nationwide embrace of this policy.
Sharing his thoughts in an op-ed for The Irish Times, Donnelly articulated the urgent need to “look at some form of this approach nationally in terms of safeguarding young mental health.”
Recognizing the value of smartphones as tools for coordination and connection, Donnelly drew a parallel to the regulated domains of broadcast and print media. He noted, “We regulate food and drink and medicines. We have extensive child protections in place in so many areas of our society. We’re now beginning to do it in the digital space.”
Donnelly shared that the community likes the ban, stating, “feedback has been positive from the schools and parents, as you’d expect, but what might surprise you is that it has also been strongly supported by the students.”
Donnelly urged, “The issues I’ve raised here are being experienced around the world. Ireland can be, and must be, a world leader in ensuring that children and young people are not targeted and are not harmed by their interactions with the digital world.”
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