What The Tech: The Ireland town where children don’t have smartphones
BY JAMEY TUCKER, Consumer Tech Reporter
Parents in Greystones, Ireland, made a pact to delay giving their children smartphones. Three
years later, the results are changing expectations about childhood and technology.
A year ago, I traveled to the beautiful seaside town of Greystones, Ireland, to see something
remarkable. Parents had come together and agreed to delay giving their children smartphones
until they reached secondary school, typically around age 12 or 13.
At the time, the initiative was still relatively new. Parents and children were adjusting to the idea
that kids didn’t automatically need a smartphone just because their friends had one.
I recently caught up with Rachel Harper, the school principal who helped launch the movement,
to find out how things were going.
What she told me was remarkable.
Not Having a Smartphone Is the New Normal
According to Harper, one of the biggest changes has been the disappearance of an expectation
familiar to many American families: that children should get their first smartphone at a certain
age.
“It’s removed the ‘when I’m 10 I get a phone, or when I’m 11 I get a phone,'” Harper told me
during our Zoom interview. “They just accept in primary school, you just don’t get phones. It’s a
new norm for us.”
Think about what that means.
In many American families, parents face enormous pressure from children who insist they’re the
only ones in their class without a smartphone.
In Greystones, that pressure has eased because so many families have agreed to wait.
Children aren’t constantly asking for phones because their friends have them. And parents don’t
feel as though they’re fighting the battle alone.
Changes Inside and Outside the Classroom
When I visited Greystones last year, Harper and other teachers told me they were noticing
encouraging changes in their schools.
They reported fewer disciplinary problems, better grades, and children arriving at school better
rested and less anxious.
Those were observations from educators, rather than findings from a controlled scientific study.
Still, the teachers believed delaying smartphones was making a difference.
Harper says the benefits extend beyond the classroom.
“One thing I do know is that the children are super active. They’re definitely taking part in a lot of
sport after school. They’re outside playing. They’re going down to the beach.”
Greystones is a beautiful coastal community, and when I visited, I saw firsthand the
opportunities children have to spend time outdoors.
The idea isn’t simply to take smartphones away. It’s to give children more opportunities to enjoy
childhood without constantly being connected to a screen.
The Idea Is Spreading Beyond Ireland
Since my visit, the Greystones initiative has attracted international attention, including coverage
in The New York Times and American television news.
Harper has also been invited to share the community’s experience at the European Parliament.
Other communities have begun exploring similar agreements, hoping to ease the pressure on
families to give young children smartphones.
And what started as a local agreement among parents is becoming part of a much larger
conversation about children, technology and growing up.
Could This Work in an American Town?
I asked Harper what advice she would give American parents who would like to start something
similar.
Her answer was surprisingly simple: Don’t think too big.
“Just pair up with the school next door, or even just pair up with a couple of parents,” she said.
“That’s how this initiative works. It’s just as many people working together as they can.”
You don’t need an entire city to agree. You don’t need government involvement or a new law.
You just need a few families willing to support one another.
The Greystones agreement is voluntary. Parents can still decide what’s best for their own
children. But when enough families make the same decision, the social pressure begins to
change.
A Year Later, a Different Question
When I visited Greystones last year, the question was whether parents could actually make this
work.
A year later, Harper says children have stopped expecting a smartphone simply because
they’ve reached a particular age. Waiting has become normal.
And that raises a different question.
If parents in one Irish town can change the expectations surrounding smartphones and
childhood, why aren’t more communities trying it?
