Hastings Parents Campaign for Smartphone-free Childhood
HAZEL SHEFFIELD
A group of parents in East Sussex have come together to call for children to have a smartphone-free childhood, inspired by a national campaign.
Antonia Deeson
Antonia Deeson set up the Hastings, Rye and Battle Whatsapp group on February 20. Deeson was inspired by two mothers who started a national group off the back of a viral Instagram post at the beginning of February calling for children to be smartphone free until they turn 14. Within ten days, 5,000 people had joined a national Whatsapp community, igniting the debate across the national press on an issue that leaves many parents feeling isolated and afraid.
“I was very keen to set up a local group covering Hastings, Battle and Rye because I feel the more local these groups are, the better,” Deeson, a writer based in Hastings, said. Deeson has a five-year-old daughter and believes Reception and Year 1 is a good time to start having the conversation about smartphones with other parents. “The aim is to get a cohort of like-minded individuals to provide support for each other to try and change the status quo, because that’s what we’re trying to do: change a very entrenched habit that we all have.”
The national campaign was set up by journalist Daisy Greenwell, who described being on “a travelator of doom” as her child approached secondary school, not wanting them to feel ostracised by not having the right phone, but aware of a body of evidence showing that smartphones can lead to higher incidents of mental illness among tweens and teenagers. By the age of 12, 97% of children have a smartphone, according to Ofcom, while a fifth of three- to four-year-olds already own a device.
In February, the government released new guidelines for schools intended to stop the use of mobile phones during the school day. But one school leaders’ union said that phones were more likely to be used outside the classroom, calling the change “non-policy for a non-problem”.
Greenwell set up a website containing links to local Whatsapp groups for parents to talk to one another and letter templates to contact teachers about the issue. The website also links to evidence showing some of the negative aspects of smartphone use among children, including addiction, reduced attention spans, problems with mental health and exposure to harmful content.
The website suggests measures groups can take, including meeting up with other concerned parents, approaching the school as a collective and getting experts to come and talk to parents at a school. A Brighton group with more than 100 members has already organised a free meeting for interested parents with talks from local cyber and developmental psychologists on the risks for their children.
“If you can get a class WhatsApp group to agree together to not get our kids a phone because they don’t need one, then the problem is eliminated overnight because there’s none of that peer pressure,” Greenwell told the BBC.
Deeson said she knew people who had tried to resist giving their children a smartphone, but who had eventually given in because they didn’t want their child to be the odd one out. She added that the national groups are important for lobbying power and setting the agenda, local groups like the one she has set up in Hastings will be essential for parents to meet one another and talk to their child’s school. “That’s what this is going to be about,” she said. “Groups of parents have got to come together through schools, because that’s where the pressure is going to be on.”
The East Sussex Smartphone Free Childhood community, containing links to local groups, can be found at chat.whatsapp.com/BR4F5rdxfV30ijRhTG5n0R.
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