‘It went nuts’: Thousands join UK parents calling for smartphone-free childhood

Submitted ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Emperor@feddit.uk⁩ to ⁨unitedkingdom@feddit.uk⁩

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/17/thousands-join-uk-parents-calling-for-smartphone-free-childhood

More than 4,000 parents have joined a group committed to barring young children from having smartphones, as concerns grow about online safety and the impact of social media on mental health.

The WhatsApp group Smartphone Free Childhood was created by the former school friends Clare Fernyhough and Daisy Greenwell in response to their fears around children’s smartphone use and the “norm” of giving children smart devices when they go to secondary school.

“I’ve got a seven- and nine-year-old. Daisy’s got kids of a similar age and we were both feeling really horrified and worried and just didn’t want them to have smartphones at 11, which seems to be the norm now.”

Fernyhough and Greenwell hoped the movement would embolden parents to delay giving their children smartphones until at least 14, with no social media access until 16.

But what they expected to be a small group of friends who help “empower each other” has turned into a nationwide campaign after the group reached the 1,000-person capacity within 24 hours of Greenwell uploading an Instagram post to promote it.

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stsquad@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
These black and white solutions are not tenable. My eldest got a phone when they moved up to secondary school. It’s a useful tool for keeping in touch with their friends especially when most people don’t have landlines any more. Their generation is growing up as digital natives and I don’t think holding them back from phones will help them in the long run.

We do limit what apps can be installed though. They certainly want TikTok but so far we’ve said no and YouTube is only available on the family TV. So far they have not expressed any interest in getting access to social media although I do have to occasionally unblock Facebook because some of the homework links to videos on the site.

I know I’m probably in the minority in having enough digital skills to erect some barriers against the worst of the internet but I’m very much aware they will set it eventually. My hope is we’ve done enough to prepare them for that by the time the training wheels come off.

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- Classy@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Why would e-homework be linked to Facebook.com? What a weird thing
  
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  - stsquad@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    A lot of homework starts with a media clip of some sort which they will comment on our analyse. Sometimes those clips are hosted on Facebook pages and it’s not really a windmill I want to tilt at right now.
    
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FatLegTed@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Or they could just be a bit more parenty.

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- peter@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Social media absolutely needs regulating though. I think it should be subject to the same regulation as gambling
  
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- wewbull@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  They are being parenty. They are setting a boundary.
  
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tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This apparently “spontaneous” group of “ordinary mothers” looks surprisingly media-trained. I’d be interested in knowing more about the founders. When the “keep our schools open during covid” group were examined they turned out to be a puppet of a right-wing thinktank.

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- Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Given the surname of one of them, we are, presumably, distant cousins. So I’ll ask if we ever cross paths.
  
  However, if it is astroturfing, I can’t quite see the agenda being promoted here or, strictly speaking, who’d gain from this unless it’s part of the lobbying done for the porn ID bill (as a lobbyist friend of mine claims to have been involved, there was cash being thrown around to make that happen).
  
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  - tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You could be right. I listened to a Tory minister on the radio today talking about ending anonymity on the internet and - more interestingly - about silo-ing parts of the internet so that certain groups, such as children, could only access certain “versions” of the internet. I wonder whether that’s the longer-term agenda.
    
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tygerprints@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It's interesting that in both the U.K. and the U.S. these anti-social media campaigns are being fueled by ADULT phobias and fears, and not being based on what kids want or are saying they are experiencing online. I get why parents are fearful of kids being exposed to certain things (though I think often their fears are not logical) - but I don't get why nobody NOBODY has bothered to ask kids if THEY feel they need protection from social media.

I mean if the whole thing is about what kids are experiencing - shouldn't you be talking to the kids to find out what they think? And if they feel abused or hurt by what's happening online? Or if they feel at risk, and if so, why?

In Utah (where I am) they've tried banning kids under 16 from having any social media access, and truly it's because Utah's republican legislatures are scared of everything that comes with technology and progress. They want us to return to the dark ages where people have to bow down and obey what those above them tell them to do.

I'm not saying that's the only thing behind all of this, or that social media isn't sometimes harmful in certain ways -- but to enact bans based solely on personal prejudices without even consulting the groups most affected is absolutely insane, in my view.

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