The United Kingdom government would not prohibit smartphones in schools. These parents took a step forward.

The idea that his eldest son is a smartphone had been inevitable for a long time, said Daisy Greenwell. But at the beginning of last year, when her daughter was 8 years old, she filled her with fear. When he spoke with other parents, “everyone said universally: 'Yes, it is a nightmare, but you have no other option,'” recalled Mrs. Greenwell, 41.

She decided to try that. A friend, Clare Fernyhough, had shared her concerns about the addictive qualities of smartphones and the impact of social networks on mental health, so they created a WhatsApp group for strategies. Then Mrs. Greenwell, who lives in Rural Suffolk, in eastern England, <a target="_blank" class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C25Tt2EoVe4/?hl=en” title=”” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>He published his thoughts on instagram.

“What would happen if we could change the social norm so that in our school, our city, our country, it was a strange choice to give your son a smartphone at age 11,” he wrote. “What would happen if we could wait until they are 14 or 16 years old?” He added a link to the WhatsApp group.

The publication went viral. In 24 hours, the group was excessively signed with the parents crying to join. Today, more than 124,000 parents of children in more than 13,000 British schools have signed A pact created by intelligent phones free childhood, the charity organization created by Mrs. Greenwell, her husband, Joe Ryrie and Mrs. Fernyhough. It is said: “Act in the best interest of my son and our community, I will wait until at least the end of the year 9 before getting a smartphone.” (The year 9 is equivalent to the eighth American degree).

The movement aligns with a broader change in attitudes in BritainAs the evidence increases the damages that represent the development of brains by addiction to smartphones and social networks with algorithms. In one survey Last year, most respondents, 69 percent, felt social networks negatively affected children under 15 years. Almost half of the parents said they fought to limit the time that the children dedicated to the phones.

Meanwhile the police and Intelligence services I have warned about a torrent of extreme and violent content that reaches online children, a trend examined in the successful adolescence television program, in which a schoolboy is accused of murder after being exposed to online misogyny. Became Britain more observed show, and on Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer met With its creators In Downing Street, telling them that he had seen him with his son and daughter. But he also said: “This is not a challenge for which politicians can simply legislate.”

Other governments in Europe have acted to stop the use of smartphones for children. In February, Denmark plans announced to ban smartphones in schoolswhile France prohibited smartphones in primary schools in 2018. Norway plans to enforce a minimum age in social networks.

Until now, the Government of Great Britain has seemed cautious to intervene. Josh Macalister, a Labor Legislator, tried to introduce a legal requirement to free all schools in England. But the bill was diluted After the government made it clear, it would not support a prohibition, arguing that the directors should make the decision.

Some parents feel that the need to act is urgent, especially because technology companies, including goal, which facebook and instagram, and x, previously twitter, have completed the operations of verification of events, that many experts, according to many experts, will allow to prosper the hate speech.

“We have no years for things to change,” said Vicky Allen, 46, a Henfield mother in southern England. “He feels he needs to be.”

She and a friend, Julia Cassidy, 46, did a successful campaign so that her children's elementary school limits the use of the phone after Mrs. Cassidy saw a Canal 4 documentary About smartphones in schools, and then found the childhood free of smartphones. Mrs. Cassidy was going to give her son a phone when he turned 11, but said: “I just made a great change of meaning.” Now, she plans to give her a phone that can only be used for calls and text messages.

The power of parents who collectively delay smartphones is key, said Mrs. Greenwell, because she isolates children in group pressure. “This problem is not so complicated,” he said. “If you have other people around you who are also doing the same, it is actually incredibly, wonderfully simple.”

'Most people just want to keep their children safe'

On a recent Friday morning, dozens of parents gathered in the auditorium of the Primary School Collindale in northern London for a presentation by Nova Eden, regional leader of intelligent phones free childhood.

He described surprising data, that the average of 12 years in Britain spends 21 hours a week on a smartphone, for example, and that 76 percent of children aged 12 to 15 spend most of their free time on screens. He also talked about emerging research on the impact of the use of smartphones.

Mrs. Eden cited studies that show rates of anxiety, depression and self -harm among adolescents that increase dramatically since social networks were introduced. “These children are fighting and need our help,” Eden said. “I know how difficult it is, but we need to be those who stand up and say that this is not good for you.”

Mrs. Eden, 44, described fighting to find the right balance for her own children, 5, 10 and 13. He said it was Ian Russell's campaign, whose daughter Molly took her life after seeing content related to suicide on instagram and other social media sites, which led her to get involved. He had just given his own 13 -year -old phone.

“At that time, I was going through this with my son and seeing the change in him and his friends,” he said.

Jane Palmer, the director of the Colindale school, acknowledged that some parents have skeptically limit the use of smartphones, or to ban school devices completely, as her school will do since September.

Some argue that devices can provide social independence and allow them to contact their children in an emergency. Others feel that parental controls get far enough to guarantee online safety.

But the conversations between the parents had begun to give way to the change, said Palmer. During the presentation, he described how a former student had died for suicide after being intimidated online.

“It can be complicated and, of course, not everyone will support it,” he said about the ban. “But at the end of the day, I think most people just want to keep their children safe.”

Collindale is in the Barnet district, which in February announced plans to become the first Municipality in Britain Prohibit smartphones in all its public schools. The initiative will affect about 63,000 children.

Eton, one of the most elite private schools in Great Britain, announced last year that they would be new students forbidden From bringing smartphones and, instead, Nokia phones would be broadcast that can only send text messages and make calls.

In Suffolk, the founders of the free childhood initiative for smartphones are aware that their success in attracting parents to their cause is partly thanks to social networks and messaging applications in which the voice has run.

“There are many positive things about this technology,” said Ryrie. “We are not trying to say that technology is bad, only we need to have a conversation as a society about when it is appropriate for children to have access without restrictions on these things.”