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‘It went nuts’: Thousands join UK parents calling for smartphone-free childhood (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 9 months ago by Emperor@feddit.uk to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

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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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[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 7 points 9 months ago

With this and the online safety bill, apparently not. Which seems a bit odd - there's that argument that kids could get around blocks adults put in plac, however, that might have been valid 10-20 years ago but people with kids today have grown up with the Internet. If they aren't tech savvy that's a choice by now but, even then, there will be organisations that can.point them to off-the-shelf products that will do.the job. After all, you have knives in the house and you restrict a child's access to them until they can be trusted to use them properly.