Smartphone Free Childhood campaign in Kent collects 2,000 signatures as parents pledge no phones before age 14 at least

Most UK children have their own phone by the age of 11 - by which time almost a third of those youngsters will have been exposed to online pornography - and by 12 a child will spend 29 hours a week with their head buried in a screen.

But what if we didn’t give kids smartphones until they were 14? Or even 16? Senior reporter Lauren Abbott meets the parents gearing-up to give their children a smartphone-free childhood and what’s more, they say their numbers are growing fast.

Exposure to violent and explicit content, cyber bullying, academic distraction and the risk of mental illness.

These are just some of the risk factors parents who desire a device-free childhood for their offspring insist will be forever present once a smartphone is in young hands.

But with peer pressure a genuine concern, they say families are in an impossible position.

Torn between giving children access to an adult product that will open the door to harmful content, addictive algorithms and the ‘anxiety machine that is social media’ and the risk of alienating them from friends at an important stage in their young lives.

Confident that one day, like cigarettes, society will look back on this era and question why children weren’t better protected, thousands of parents are now taking matters into their own hands.

Many are now joining a movement to challenge both the cultural norm of giving children smartphones and at some stage - the law itself.

It was a campaign that began somewhat by accident when in February this year lifelong friends Daisy Greenwell and Clare Fernyhough set up a WhatsApp group to support each other in the decision to hold off buying their children smartphones until around the age of 14.

After an Instagram post by Daisy went viral, within 24 hours thousands of other parents wanted to join their group, all fearful that smartphones and childhood do not mix but with nowhere to voice their fears.

The pair’s initial group chat quickly maxed out at 1000 members so they, along with Daisy’s husband Joe, encouraged people to set up local groups and within hours 60 ‘Smartphone Free Childhood’ WhatsApp groups had launched across the length and breadth of Britain.

Among those leading the charge in Kent is mother-of-two Linzi Meaden, a trauma therapist and mental health advocate from Tunbridge Wells.

Having already bore witness to the growing number of children and teens now coming through her clinic’s doors ‘traumatised’ by what they’ve seen through their phone - and exhibiting issues related to self harm, depression, anxiety and addictive behaviours - she says it’s time for change.

“It’s incredibly frustrating when this is happening - it’s so obvious,” she says. “You don’t have to work in mental health to see the impact this is having on young children.

“For me personally, and obviously in my profession as well, it’s about us standing up and speaking up for our children and being the voice to ensure they get their childhood back.

“We have to stand up and say ‘no, this has got to stop’.

“We have got to protect our children.”

The average teen receives around 237 smartphone notifications a day, that’s one every few minutes. While the average UK 12-year-old will spend the hours equivalent to a part-time job - about 29 - on their smartphone each week.

Linzi, whose twins are currently aged seven, says while even as adults we struggle with the demands technology places upon us and our time, children’s brains are nowhere near mature nor developed enough to cope.

She believes withholding a smartphone until the age of 16 could be even better - to allow children to complete critical GCSEs without distraction.

She said: “For children, we have to protect them. Their brains are not developed enough.

They’ve got to step in and say ‘come on this is harming children’

“We cannot allow them to get addicted to these devices when there are plenty of alternatives” she added.

“The argument of not being able to keep in touch to and from school, there’s no argument there, there are plenty of alternative phones.”

More than 2,000 Kent parents from more than 320 schools in the county have signed the campaign’s online Parent Pact, which includes a pledge to not give a smartphone to a child before the age of 14, adding to the more than 70,000 signatures now gathered UK-wide.

Kent’s numbers have earned it a spot in the top 10 counties nationwide for participation in the Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC) movement.

The group has its own dedicated website and a webinar is planned for November 18 as part of efforts to reach more families in the county.

Forcing this national conversation around the perils of smartphones - Linzi believes - should really be the job of government but she says there is a need for urgency which is why parents like her have kick-started the debate.

She explained: “They’re on the fence. They’re being too woolly. It’s ridiculous.

“They’ve got to step in and say ‘come on this is harming children’.

“Every day that goes past, another child has become addicted.

“Every single day is a day two many. We have got to get this sense of urgency.”

Joining Linzi, and the small group of families volunteering their time to lead Kent’s group, is mum of two Felicity Winkles who says the county’s movement is really growing.

With her daughters now aged six and five, and having heard of children as young as seven and eight with their own smart devices, she says the Smartphone Free Childhood movement came along at the ideal time to give her somewhere to channel her growing concerns.

The mum-of-two from Folkestone explained: “I hadn’t thought I’d needed to think about it so soon. I was really shocked.

“I don’t blame parents, I just feel like we’ve been thrust upon with this technology and we don’t know how to navigate it.”

Most schools already have a ban or tight restrictions on phone use during the day after government guidance was issued earlier this year.

But calls are growing to ban smartphones in England’s schools by law, with education experts and some unions backing an attempt by Labour MP and former teacher Josh MacAlister to push a new bill through Parliament.

Children ‘doomscrolling for hours a day’ is causing them widespread harm, he said when he introduced his Private Members Bill to the House of Commons earlier this month.

Linzi and Felicity say it’s a good sign and a positive start but Smartphone Free Childhood campaigners would ultimately like to see schools scale back on their use of technology and learning apps altogether - to help remove the need and argument that children must have access to a device.

Linzi says she is already resisting any homework her primary-aged children are given that requires the use of technology.

Dr Jonathan Haidt, a New York professor and best selling author of book The Anxious Generation, which claims the spread of social media is ‘rewiring’ children’s childhoods, says he believes the UK movement could be “the beginning of the global tipping point” in the fight back against a phone-based childhood.

Felicity senses too, that if numbers keep growing, change will come over the next few years.

“The biggest danger is resignation” she explains.

“We can work together.

“I can see change on the ground and I’m really hoping that for my children, and also for all their peers, and children going to school next year that change can be done.”