What The Tech: What do kids in Ireland think about the ‘no phone’ policy?’
BY JAMEY TUCKER, Consumer Technology Reporter
Taking a phone away after the child has been using it for awhile is difficult. The idea in Greystones, is to never give a child a phone until they reach middle school. That, and getting parents to agree, is why it’s working so well.
“She wouldn’t eat unless the screen was on with Peppa Pig and she’d just close her mouth and wouldn’t eat until we…that’s how we had to feed her,” says Sienna’s father.
It isn’t just screen time. It’s what children might see when they click a few times that robs them of innocence.
“We had a trend at one stage where we had a number of girls and guys self-harming, and we traced it back and they’d all watched videos of people self-harming.”
Not intentionally, but because algorithms push certain content based on what the user sees, if only briefly. Older students are quick to warn young ones about body image. Younger girls getting social media can really affect their mental health, seeing unrealistic images.
“He was looking up Liverpool football stuff, on his for you page on Tiktok,” says secondary teacher Susan Keyne Andrews, “And a murder came up. a killing. a live one. he said he watched somebody being killed. This is a
12 year old boy you know and my heart broke for him.
That’s why parents in Greystones pushed back. Framing it as not taking away, but giving children time to be kids and surprisingly to some, the kids are on board.
“You can stay on your phone as much as you want, but that isn’t going to change anything. while you’re 12, 11, or 13 maybe, you should go and do something fun that you won’t be able to do when you’re older.
Childhood, it is getting shorter and shorter, and this is one way we feel we can prolong it a little bit longer for the children.
It’s common in Greystones to see boys jumping into the Irish sea, and others taking dips in the
frigid water. Or a kid playing the tinwhistle on shore, Sienna wouldn’t trade any of that childhood
for a phone.
“I can get addicted to things easily, but I think it’s much better when I have books. Also, I wouldn’t
time to do the things I love such as, as you can see the Irish dancing and music,” says Sienna.
“I like how they phrase it. It’s not about limiting the child’ s access to the internet, it’s limiting the internet’s access to our children.”
And after nearly 3 years of “It Takes a Village”, Greystone parents and teachers have some advice. That’s next time.
