What happens when a whole village agrees to a phone-free childhood? One Irish town is finding out

Parents and teachers of the small seaside town of Greystones, Ireland, came up with a grassroots initiative to ban all smart devices for their pre-teens. They began the 'It Takes A Village' movement three years ago, when students returned to school after the pandemic. Teachers heard multiple complaints from students, ranging from sleeping problems to seeing graphic content online. The adults realized they needed to step in and make some big changes really quickly. What started in a small town of 22,000 people has grown and influenced other parts of the country, as reported by The New York Times on March 26.

Daisy Greenwell was inspired by the 'It Takes A Village' movement and decided to start something similar. She co-founded the 'Britain’s Smartphone Free Childhood' movement with the same idea in mind. She credited Greystones for being "one of the first places that took collective action." With time, more people were inspired by the movement, one of them being Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister, Simon Harris, who is also a Greystones father. He saw how badly social media has impacted the younger generation's mental health and well-being and joined forces with Greenwell to launch the movement.

Rachel Harper, the principal of St. Patrick's National School, is one of the leaders of the initiative. She kept hearing complaints from parents and other teachers about how the children were having trouble sleeping, some refused to go to school, others were affected by the chats they were having, and many more. She believed they needed an intervention at the earliest. "If we didn’t take a stand now, in five years would they be getting phones at 5 or 6?" she asked.

The schools needed data to understand how bad the problem was, so they sent out surveys. 800 parents responded, reporting that their children were anxious and even needed mental health assistance. That was when the town decided to act on it. Ross McParland, a retired resident of Greystones, conducted a town hall meeting where Simon Harris, former Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly, and a few parents spoke. Two weeks later, all of the eight primary schools in Greystones signed a letter that was sent to the parents. The letter stated that parents should refrain from buying their children a phone until they join secondary school (around 12 years old). There was a great response to the letter, and 70% of the parents agreed.

In an interview with WGN News, one parent explained, "We really invited parents to participate… to help parents make a conscious decision to improve their child’s well-being," she said. She also pointed out how the collective approach helped reduce peer pressure at home. "If your child comes home saying they’re the only one without a phone, you can say… 70% of your class doesn’t have one, so you won’t be getting one until secondary school," she explained.

The Greystones students themselves have reported that having a phone affects their daily life and mental health. A study from researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) backs that claim. The findings revealed that 47% of 12-year-olds who owned a smartphone reported insufficient sleep, compared to just 31% of kids without phones. The same research also showed that children with smartphones had higher rates of depression diagnoses (around 6.5%) compared to 4.5% among those without devices.

Ran Barzilay, the lead author of the study, said, "Our findings suggest that we should view smartphones as a significant factor in teen health, approaching the decision to give a child a phone with care and considering potential impacts on their life and health."

The small town of Greystones got the ball rolling, and within a few months, Mr. Donelly started a national online health task force. The initiative was such an inspiration that even Ireland's Department of Education issued guidelines for other primary schools that wanted to join. To replace the phones, the community had sports activities for the children to engage in, and a Youth Café for tweens to hang out at. The initiative is slowly making a difference, and teachers are seeing positive changes in their students. Greystones’ Temple Carrig secondary school's assistant principal said, "What Greystones has done is shown that parents and communities aren’t powerless."

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