Local WhatsApp group started by two mothers concerned about online safety attracts more than 4,000 members

More than 4,000 parents have joined a group committed to barring young children from having smartphones, as concerns grow about online safety and the impact of social media on mental health.

The WhatsApp group Smartphone Free Childhood was created by the former school friends Clare Fernyhough and Daisy Greenwell in response to their fears around children’s smartphone use and the “norm” of giving children smart devices when they go to secondary school.

“I’ve got a seven- and nine-year-old. Daisy’s got kids of a similar age and we were both feeling really horrified and worried and just didn’t want them to have smartphones at 11, which seems to be the norm now.”

Fernyhough and Greenwell hoped the movement would embolden parents to delay giving their children smartphones until at least 14, with no social media access until 16.

But what they expected to be a small group of friends who help “empower each other” has turned into a nationwide campaign after the group reached the 1,000-person capacity within 24 hours of Greenwell uploading an Instagram post to promote it.

  • tygerprints
    0•4 months ago

    It’s interesting that in both the U.K. and the U.S. these anti-social media campaigns are being fueled by ADULT phobias and fears, and not being based on what kids want or are saying they are experiencing online. I get why parents are fearful of kids being exposed to certain things (though I think often their fears are not logical) - but I don’t get why nobody NOBODY has bothered to ask kids if THEY feel they need protection from social media.

    I mean if the whole thing is about what kids are experiencing - shouldn’t you be talking to the kids to find out what they think? And if they feel abused or hurt by what’s happening online? Or if they feel at risk, and if so, why?

    In Utah (where I am) they’ve tried banning kids under 16 from having any social media access, and truly it’s because Utah’s republican legislatures are scared of everything that comes with technology and progress. They want us to return to the dark ages where people have to bow down and obey what those above them tell them to do.

    I’m not saying that’s the only thing behind all of this, or that social media isn’t sometimes harmful in certain ways – but to enact bans based solely on personal prejudices without even consulting the groups most affected is absolutely insane, in my view.