By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Nottinghamshire parents who are part of a smartphone-free campaign group have called on the Government and big tech companies to better regulate how the devices and apps appeal to children.
Smartphone Free Childhood is a grassroots movement started in February 2024.
Supporters say they want to change what they say has become the ‘norm’ of giving smartphones to children and adolescents.
The campaign is based on the view smartphone use by young people exposes them to harmful content, addictive algorithms and puts them at risk of increased anxiety.
The group launched the national ‘Parent Pact’ on September 10 – an online form allowing parents sign a promise to not give their child a smartphone until they are aged 14.
WhatsApp group chats varying by region have been set up to accommodate thousands of parents who have decided to back the campaign. In one day, 20,000 parents signed the pact nationally.
There are currently 21 groups in Nottinghamshire, with a total of around 320 local community members.
In recent years a growing number of studies have formally linked smartphone use in children to developmental problems and addiction.
A 2019 King’s College London study found around a quarter of children and young people using the devices display addicted behaviour, including panic and upset when the phone is not available to them.
Nottinghamshire parents who are part of the movement have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they now want to see changes in the law, the Government and in big tech companies to reduce the impact of the devices and apps on children.
Emily Dean, 37, from Radcliffe-on-Trent, has two children, aged six and one. While her eldest has not reached the age to ask for a phone, Emily is concerned about how smartphone usage could affect his future development.
She said: “It’s not just getting parents together, it’s also lobbying the big tech companies, being more responsible of what kids can get access to, content that’s really not age appropriate- the group is making more of a noise together to help make more decisions in government.
“I think it would be good from the Department for Education to help smartphone use in schools. Schools can decide if they allow phones or not- those policies don’t always get listened to.
“I think what’s difficult in secondary school is everything is done by smartphone, it’s all done through the apps, lots of the communication from the school classroom is all through a phone – the parents can’t always afford a smartphone.”
Figures from the communication regulator Ofcom show by the age of 11, nine in ten children have their own smartphone. Nearly a quarter of five-to-seven-year-olds in the UK also have a device.
Ofcom also found more than half of children under 13 use a form of social media despite most social media platforms applying age restrictions.
Mrs Dean said: “I want the government to make more strict rules about using phones – if you have a smartphone for school work, it’s just not right because everything else is on your smartphone as well.
“If my son was doing [homework] on his iPad, it’s not a family thing, I think children should be doing homework in a way where parents can be involved as well.
“At my son’s infant school next year, in year three, a lot of the homework will be screen based and I see some benefits, like less paper, but the point is, is it effective if you are trying to protect your child from social media?”
Smartphone addiction has been found to weaken academic performance and learning and the cognitive abilities needed for academic success.
Earlier this year, St Alban’s in Hertfordshire announced a plan to be the first British city to be smartphone-free for those under the age of 14.
Headteachers in the city sent out a joint letter to parents, urging them to delay buying their children smartphones until at least year 9, or age 13 to 14.
Beeston parent Steph Holmes, 41, has two children aged nine and seven. She agrees with the movement to ensure her eldest avoids dangers arising from social media, but wants more Government action.
She said: “[The group] want people to understand the harms of smartphones for kids, there needs to be some government messaging about it- to make a lasting change around smartphones, we need collective action.
“I think it’s about social media companies, it’s an ethical decision- is this the right thing to enable children to do? They’re not enforcing [age restrictions].
“The pressure needs to be on the government and big tech companies to make the changes, in the meantime it’s parents and the school ‘s collaborating to start changing the norms about what’s accepted.”
Social media sites like Snapchat, X, Instagram and Facebook require users to be at least 13 years old to create an account, but many can lie about their age.
Snapchat prohibits 13 to 17-year-olds with an account from changing their birth year to appear above 18 to stop them from getting around teen-specific safeguards, although age verification checks are still rare.
Broxtowe dad Stefan Rennick-Egglestone, 44, has a child in junior school and one in infant school.
He hopes the government’s existing Online Safety Act will serve as a step to reduce smartphone usage by children.
The Act puts a range of new duties on social media companies and search services, making them more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms. The Act became law in October 2023, and Government work is ongoing to bring it into effect.
Mr Rennick-Egglestone said: “It feels like giving them a drug sometimes, giving children smartphones, they’d have no interest in carrying on with the hobbies they do, because the smart phone will become part of their cognition.
“With social media, that’s to come from the government, an age cut off of 14 would be very sensible and that’s only enforcing what [social media sites] say they’ll do anyway- I think the Online Safety Act can provide the mechanism for it.”
Stefan also does not think that parents tracking children through their smartphones is appropriate.
He added: “I think tracking could be a cause of anxiety [for children], what I’m seeing in some parents is ‘you must take your smartphone out with you at all times, you cant go out unless you take it out and let us track you’.
“A healthy part of human development is separating from your parents a bit and making your own decisions, you might take away important development opportunities- they’re using their technologies to impose their anxieties on their children.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Creating a safer online world is a priority and ensuring the Online Safety Act is implemented is an important part of this work.
“Ofcom has set out the proposed steps companies will have to take to protect children on their platforms under the Online Safety Act, including using highly effective age checks and altering their algorithms to filter out harmful content.”
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was contacted for comment, but did not respond. Snapchat declined to comment.
Meta’s website says its committement to child protection is “Led by a comprehensive set of community standards… …Meta has zero-tolerance rules prohibiting abuse and policies that place importance on your child’s safety. Our cutting-edge technologies prevent, detect and remove violations.”
Snapchat states on its website: “Like many other social networks and messaging apps, the minimum age to use Snapchat is 13 years old. Additionally, users aged 13-17 must have permission from a parent or legal guardian to use the app.
“While some research shows that children under 13 use the service, Snapchat will remove any accounts they identify as belonging to an underage user.”
Many smartphone companies, including iPhone manufacturers Apple, do not have a specified age recommendation for owning a phone, but a child under 13 cannot create an Apple ID account without their parent’s consent.
