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At Greystones in Ireland, parents’ associations from 8 primary schools are proposing to ban the use of smartphones for children under 12 years old. An initiative already put into practice by several schools in the city and many parents at home.
More and more pediatricians are warning about the dangers of screens on children’s health. While a number of recommendations have been made by several official pediatric authorities concerning the exposure of children to screens, no country has yet legislated on the subject. In Ireland, the town of Greystones has deemed it necessary to take up the subject seriously by prohibiting the use of smartphones for children who are not yet in college, a measure which therefore concerns toddlers under the age of 12/13.
“The time of childhood is always getting shorter”
THE Guardian reports that several associations of parents of primary school pupils in the region have proposed this measure which they would like to see applied at school but also at home. Several schools and parents in County Wicklow have been enforcing this ban since last month”to protect their children from screen anxiety and easily accessible adult content on the internet”, can we read in the article. This is the first time that a city has taken joint action on this universal problem.
“The time of childhood is getting shorter and shorter”, worries Rachel Harper, principal of the school Saint Patrick at the origin of this measurement. “9-year-olds are starting to ask for a smartphone. What we never imagined before, and yet it’s happening”, she added.
Extend this measure to the national level
This local measure could encourage other cities in the country to do the same. This is in any case what the Irish Ministry of Health Stephen Donnelly, father of three children and living not far from Greystones, wants. In a column published in the Irish Times, he does not hide his desire to extend this plan to the national level. “Ireland can and must be a global leader in ensuring that children and young people are not targeted and harmed by their interactions with the digital world.” he wrote.