Parents in Ireland are banding together in a growing movement to advocate for children to go smartphone free, amid discussions of online safety and wellbeing.
Emer Carty, from south Dublin, is one of more than 1,000 parents who swap advice and stories with like-minded individuals in a group called Smartphone Free Childhood Ireland.
The initiative, which started to take off in Ireland last May, is part of a global network, with sister groups in the US, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany and several other countries.
From the latest research and news on digital risks and developments in digital safety regulation, to alternative starter phones and tips on how to manage smartphone use, the group chat has become a space where parents can feel supported in their decision to opt for a smartphone-free childhood.
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Carty – who has three children aged six, 12 and 14 – was inspired to help organise an Irish branch after the “peer pressure” she saw unfold when her daughter was among the only children in her class to not be gifted a phone for her Confirmation in sixth class.
“I don’t want any parent to have to go through what I went through at Confirmation,” she said.
Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s online regulator, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Australian eSafety commissioner last week, in a commitment to collaborate on online safety.
The agreement comes as tech giant Meta said it was starting to remove under-16s in Australia from Instagram, Threads and Facebook in advance of the country’s world-first youth social media ban.
Big online platforms, also including TikTok and YouTube, will be required to block underage users in Australia by December 10th, when the new law comes into force.
Plans to verify the ages of children who use social media in Ireland will be considered in the coming weeks by Government.
Welcoming the news, Carty said she feels hopeful the tide is changing in Ireland.
“I have a daughter now in sixth class, two years on, and hardly any of the class have a phone, so things are really shifting from the work that has been done,” she said.
Her children’s primary school has since seen 95 per cent of parents take a pledge to delay smartphone use for their children until secondary school or ideally 16 years old.
Her eldest daughter uses a Balance phone, which has the appearance of a smartphone without the risks of social media, games or adult content.
This compromise is one a lot of parents in the group are opting for. It allows for communication while lowering screen time, and allows certain apps, such as Whatsapp, to facilitate this.
In the US, a growing number of similar-minded parents are opting to reinstall landlines to facilitate an alternative form of communication for their children.
A piece published in the Atlantic earlier this year shared the results of an experiment in Portland, Maine, where one parent who was reluctant to give her 10-year-old child a smartphone chose to install a landline. Before she knew it, between 15 and 20 families in the area had done the same for their children in what the Atlantic called a “retro bubble”.
SCFI has created its own online pledge for parents who want to anonymously commit to delaying giving their child a smartphone “for as long as possible, up to 16 years of age”.
Already more than 3,700 pupils across 505 schools – primary and secondary – have been registered in Ireland through the SFCI website. On completing the pledge, parents can see how many others in their child’s school have also signed up.
Lauren Swiney, a cognitive scientist and parent from Donegal, “stumbled across” SFCI after attending a meeting on digital safety held by Letterkenny Educate Together School, where interest was expressed in setting up a similar pledge.
“To see that there was a national movement, where there was already a system in place for signing the pledge and keeping track of how many people had signed it, and an incredible amount of resources, was a huge help to me at the beginning,” said Swiney.
As a parent to a six-year-old and step-parent to a 24-year-old, Swiney has “kind of been around this once before”.
“I’ve seen how important it is to get in advance of these things and have a plan,” she said.
Describing smartphone use among children as “a public health crisis”, Swiney believes many parents are looking for a conversation around it.
“We all have to realise now that the power is with us. Just like a lot of other stuff we decided wasn’t good for kids, like driving and working, this is something that we’re going to have to row back.”
Swiney has ordered a voice-messaging device called Karri for her son, who “does a fair amount of free play out in the countryside around our house”. This will allow her to know where he is and that he’s safe, she said.
“It’s not about being anti-tech or killjoys, there are a lot of other alternatives out there.”
The dangers of child safety online are something David Corkery and his wife from east Cork have been keenly aware of “ever since we had kids”.
Their children are now five and eight years old. One moment on a family holiday was a wake-up call: Corkery remembers “sitting at breakfast and looking around, and every table had an iPad out”.
“Every toddler was just glued to it,” he said, adding “I don’t want to parent shame, I understand it is tough being a parent and you do need those moments of peace and down time.”
While there is some time-restricted tablet use among their children, he said plenty of parental controls are in place to ensure it’s a safe experience.
For Corkery, smartphone addiction is an issue “we’ve been sleepwalking into for the past 15 years”.
“Smartphones and devices have become so commonplace ... I think we haven’t really stopped to reckon with the effects of them until recently.”
Andrew Byrne, also part of SFCI’s east Cork regional group, has two children aged five and nine years old. For Byrne, the initiative is all about “making small changes slowly” through “community effort”.
[ Could Ireland follow Australia and ban under-16s from social media?Opens in new window ]
“When you work individually it’s very hard to have a change, so I think it has to be a community effort. That’s why I wanted to join Smartphone Free Childhood Ireland,” he said.
“We want to make it normal to not have smartphones when you’re a child.”
