LONDON — With growing evidence linking smartphone use to mental health problems in children, a grassroots organization within the U.K. is supporting parents who don't give their children the devices.
Smartphone-free childhood, Founded in February by Daisy Greenwell and Clare Fernyhough, the corporate arrange various local group chats for fogeys across the UK and grew to over 60,000 members inside a couple of weeks, based on its website.
Interest within the movement is driven by concerns concerning the normalisation of kids’s use of smartphones. By the age of 12, 97% of kids within the UK own a cell phone, based on Ofcoma government-approved regulatory authority for the usage of communications services within the United Kingdom
In the US, based on a 2021 study, 42% of kids aged 10 already owned a smartphone, and by the age of 14, the figure had risen to 91%. Report by Common Sense 1,306 young people between the ages of eight and 18 within the USA were surveyed.
In an increasingly online world, parents give their children smartphones for a wide range of reasons, including entertainment, tracking their location and keeping in contact with them after they leave the home. But studies and experts indicate that this opens the door to social media and potential mental health damage.
The goal of the SFC is to bring together parents who don’t give their children smartphones to alleviate the peer pressure and isolation they could feel.
Due to its success, the corporate expanded internationally and established offices within the USA, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Canada, South Africa and various other countries.
Just days after the launch of the SFC campaign, the British government – then led by the Conservative Party – issue latest guidelines banning the usage of smartphones in schools and through breaks.
Some places within the US – similar to Los Angeles and the states of Florida and Indiana – have Prohibitions on the subject of mobile phones in schools.
Other independent organizations are being founded around the globe, including the Austin-based Wait until the eighth., Not connected in Canada, It isn’t yet the time in Mexico and the Heads-Up Alliance in Australia.
However, some academics and scientists remain unconvinced that there’s a link between smartphones and poor mental health. Psychology professor Christopher Ferguson told NBC News earlier this yr that society tends to react negatively to latest technologies and their potential dangers, from televisions to video games to, more recently, AI.
Increased psychological problems?
Young people reported worse psychological outcomes the sooner they got a smartphone, Sapien Labs study published last yr.
The study used data from 27,969 18- to 24-year-olds collected between January and April 2023 in 41 countries, including North America, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, South Asia and Africa.
About 74 percent of female respondents who received their first smartphone at age six reported feeling anxious or faced problems, based on the study. However, this proportion dropped to 61 percent amongst those that received their first smartphone at age 10 and 52 percent amongst those that received their first smartphone at age 15.
Among male respondents, the proportion who felt depressed or distressed decreased from 42% amongst those that received their first smartphone at age 6 to 36% amongst those that received their first smartphone at age 18.
Young individuals who purchased their first smartphone at an older age reported higher psychological well-being, including fewer problems with suicidal thoughts and feelings of aggression, in addition to fewer problems with detachment from reality.
These findings are mobilizing parents to take motion, says Zach Rausch, a scholar at New York University's Stern School of Business and lead researcher for Jonathon Haidt's New York Times bestseller “The Anxious Generation.”
“The mass migration to a phone-based childhood has really hurt young people,” Rausch said in an interview with CNBC Make It.
“The research has gotten stronger and the evidence of harm has gotten stronger every year,” he added. “The lid has been taken off and parents are seeing other parents talking about it. So we're seeing a wave of parents coming together.”
The combination of smartphones and social media is especially deadly for young people, says Rausch.
The British Millennium Cohort Studywhich followed the lives of around 19,000 young people born within the UK between 2000 and 2002, found a high correlation between social media use and depressive symptoms, including low self-esteem, online harassment and negative body image.
“When smartphones and social media really came together, a whole new way of interacting emerged,” Rausch said.
“So now you have social media in your pocket on your smartphone that is designed to maximize the time you spend on your phone… it's built in a way that is addictive and tries to keep you hooked.”
In recent years, Metathe parent company of social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, has come under criticism from lawmakers and fogeys for exposing children and youths to harmful content on its platforms, including multiple allegations of kid sexual exploitation.
In turn, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg urged lawmakers to enact more policies and regulations to combat harmful online content. Amid mounting pressure, the tech giant announced in January 2024 that it could limit the sort of content that teen users of Instagram and Facebook can see, including self-harm, eating disorders and nudity.
Some technology firms are attempting to create kid-friendly smartphone and social media experiences. Google launched YouTube Kids in 2015, a separate YouTube-like app with kid-friendly content and parental controls.
iPhone manufacturer Apple recently launched a brand new website promoting the Apple Watch for teenagers who’re too young for smartphones. The device can be controlled via parents' iPhones so that they can stay in contact with their children.
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