Parents have banded together to try and urge other mums and dads to stop children from having a smartphone.
The ‘Parent Pact’ campaign by Smartphone Free Childhood has now reached over 100,000 signatures, with famous names including ex-footballer Jamie Redknapp, actor Benedict Cumberbatch and singers Rachel Stevens and Paloma Faith.
The campaign, launched six months ago, aims to get families to commit to delaying giving their children a smartphone until they turn 14 and social media until they turn 16.
The NGO said: ‘Delaying smartphones becomes possible when we do it together.
‘This week, we’ve hit an incredible milestone – 100,000 families have signed the Pact.
‘In every corner of the UK, at 40% of schools in the country, families are committing to wait until at least 14 before getting their kids’ smartphones.’
So far, a total of 103,889 parents across the UK have signed up to the pact, with 11,269 schools also showing support.
A report by the Education Select Committee released last year found almost all children own a phone by the age of 12. An alarming 79% of children encounter ‘violent pornography’ before the age of 18.
Daisy Greenwell co-founder and director of Smartphone Free Childhood, told Metro today the campaign organisation sees its ‘main work as a grassroots campaign’ to engage parents on the issue, but added that politicians ‘are listening’ following 60,000 letters being sent to MPs in the last six months.
Legislative change, she accepts, is likely to take time, but will happen’ as long as a ‘huge army of parents’ continue to get involved in the campaign.
She added: ‘MPs know this is at the top of their constituents’ agenda.’
There have been some legislative attempts to protect children from smartphone use.
At a reading of a private members’ bill earlier this month, Labour MP Katie White said she had received double the amount of correspondence from constituents on this issue than “any other this year”.
The Protection of Children (Digital Safety and Data Protection) Bill introduced by Labour MP Josh MacAlister had its second reading on March 7.
It calls on the education secretary to ‘publish a plan for research into the impact of use of social media on children’ within one year.
The bill was watered down following its original introduction to the Commons last October. This is common during early phases of private members’ bills as they are rarely picked up without government support.
The October version of the bill included a measure to raise the age companies can process children’s data without parental consent from 13 to 16. Under the terms of the current bill, the government must say within one year say if it will raise the digital age of consent.
The previous version of the bill also called for a strengthening of powers for the media regulator Ofcom to enforce a code of conduct to prevent children being exposed to ‘addictive by design’ apps.
It asked for regulation that would look at the way phones are designed and then supplied and marketed to children under the age of 16, and suggested a legal requirement for schools to become mobile-free.
Conservative MP Kit Malthouse said he was ‘slightly disappointed that it has been watered down’.
Liberal Democrat Monica Harding said she was also disappointed, but joined Mr Malthouse in continuing to support the bill.
Mr MacAlister said ‘private members’ Bills are often a shot in the dark’ and he hopes to ‘make progress on this issue at every available opportunity in the future’.
Speaking at the debate, data protection and telecoms minister Chris Bryant said ‘consortium of experts’ and the University of Cambridge had been commissioned by the government to study of the impact of smartphones and social media use.
Mr Bryant also said the Online Safety Act, due to come into effect in the summer, includes measures to protect children online.
The act compels social media companies and search engines follow Ofcom-issued codes of practice to keep users, mainly children, safe online. They could face fines and blockages if they don’t.
The bill has also made so-called ‘cyber-flashing’ and sharing deepfake material illegal.
Critics of the bill say it risks harming free expression, while some parents say it does not go far enough.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was also today asked if parents should be strict on stopping children from using their phones at home to prevent access to potentially inappropriate content.
She responded by saying the government is ‘taking action through the Online Safety Act’, and said smartphones have ‘no place’ in schools.
Schools have the ‘full backing’ of the government, in removing disruptive phones from the classroom, Ms Phillipson said.
Addressing the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) in Liverpool, she said: ‘You know, we all know, that phones are disruptive, distracting, bad for behaviour. They have no place in our schools.’
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