Parents join forces to delay phone use

More than 9,000 Herts parents, including a growing number in Berkhamsted, Tring and surrounding villages, have agreed to wait until at least the end of Year 9 (age 14) to buy their child a smartphone – due to growing evidence linking early smartphone-use to an array of harms.

Smartphone Free Childhood, a grassroots movement of 200,000 parents across Britain, has launched a digital tool, Parent Pact which connects people as they wait.

Chloe Harrison, Dacorum regional leader of Smartphone Free Childhood, said: ‘The only genuinely safe option for our children in the current digital world is to withhold giving their child a smartphone – but to do so alone is almost impossible. No parent wants to isolate their child from their peers.

‘Our Parent Pact and local support group, enables parents to wait, safe in the knowledge that their child is not the only one without a smartphone. If your child knows that 10 other kids in their class will be getting a simple brick phone instead, they’re happy to wait and the peer pressure instantly dissolves.’

Find out more at www.smartphonefreechildhood.org.