What The Tech: Would American parents implement a ‘no phone policy?’
BY JAMEY TUCKER, Consumer Technology Reporter
All last week, Jamey Tucker has been in a small Irish town, where parents agreed to hold off on phones until their child is a little older. Now, Jamey asks the question: can American cities do the same thing. What he’s earned here in Greystones is that kids who grow up without smartphones at a young age, make better grades, they have better social skills, and better relationships with their family and friends.
And there’s no reason we can’t make this work at home.
“It is easier just to give the kids what they want and say…then you get peace and quiet and cook
the dinner. It’s an hour off basically,” says parent Gavin Murphy.
Same as when our parents plopped us in front of a TV. But smartphones are more dangerous. Inappropriate content is just a couple of clicks away.
The biggest challenge in saying no, is when all of their friends have a phone. So Greystone’s
principal Rachel Harper made getting the buy-in from everyone the first step.
“It’s just that kind of ‘new norm’ is probably what we’ve noticed more, that the pressure’s been
taken off and children are okay with it,” says Harper.
A surprising piece was who helped deliver the message Instead of only parents and teachers,
older students ran workshops.
“I warned him about scams and certain things that can popup on social media.”
Others pointed to the apps they say waste the most time.
“Snapchat. TikTok or Snapchat. With TikTok you just scroll and scroll and the time goes by and
it’s just so addicting, ” says one girl.
“They know how it feels to spend 8 hours on the phone all day, but nobody’s helping them. To me
it’s like an addict, when you continue to give an addict the substance that they’re addicted to, what are they going to do? They’re gonna take it,” says Chaplain Josh Barrington.
“They all wish, if all of their friends didn’t have phones then they’d be very happy to not have phones,” says Susan Andrews, a secondary school teacher.
11 year old Jack Sweeney has some advice for American kids
“If they’re bringing their phones and they’re going to their friends’ houses. Just don’t bring the
phone because I think it would just be a distraction,” says Sweeney.
Ms. Harper’s final word of advice is for parents and schools.
“Don’t be afraid to take the first step. I would encourage parents and teachers to group together. Even if you have a group of parents working together, or I would say to principals, even if you pair up with one school beside you,
there’s going to be strength in that. I think if we all work together it’s going to have huge benefits,” says Harper.
I came here to Greystones to see if there’s a secret, if there’s something they’re doing here that
we can do back in America and I’ve learned all it takes is for schools, parents, and communities
to make the pact and stick together.
