Groups of Irish parents dotted around the country have started conducting a large-scale social experiment – they’re joining together and deciding, as a group, to delay giving their preteen a smartphone.
These parents of soon-to-be first year students in secondary schools in Dublin, Cork and Galway hope they can hold out in the face of their children’s smartphone requests, social media’s addictive algorithms and what many see as a failure by successive governments to regulate the dangers of the internet.
Research now clearly shows mental health problems among young people have soared since smartphones became ubiquitous well over a decade ago. Weakened social bonds, increased loneliness, sadness and social anxiety are also a real problem among children.
For many, the explosion in smartphone use feels like an unstoppable force. But could a united grassroots movement among Irish parents change how children and young teens use the internet?
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Today, on In The News, the parents saying no to smartphones for their teenagers.
Irish Times education editor Carl O’Brien and Dublin parent Mary Lovegrove, who is leading one of these campaigns, join the podcast.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon and Aideen Finnegan.
