Givan backs campaign to delay children's smartphone use

Education Minister Paul Givan has supported a campaign urging parents not to buy children a smartphone until they are aged 14.

The Department of Education (DE) has written to all school principals to make them aware of 'The Parent Pact' initiative.

Organised by the Smartphone Free Childhood group, it aims to encourage parents to wait to give their child a smartphone until they are 14.

It also encourages parents not to let children use social media until they are 16.

Australia recently banned social media for children until the age of 16, the first national government to do so.

In Northern Ireland, Givan has previously advised schools to restrict pupils using mobile phones.

Funding has been provided to some schools to buy magnetic pouches for pupils to put their phones in during the school day.

But some primary school principals have also called on parents to delay giving their child a smartphone.

The department has now written to school heads to tell them that the minister supports that call.

The letter to school heads from DE said that the minister supported 'The Parent Pact'.

While the scheme is voluntary, the DE letter said that delaying children getting a smartphone reduced "early exposure to social media and online risks".

It also said it supported children's mental health and fostered "stronger offline social and family connections."

The letter directed schools to online information produced by the Smartphone Free Childhood organisation.

It also thanked heads for restricting mobile phone use in school, and "for your commitment to safeguarding and improving the mental health and wellbeing of your pupils".

But parents from Smartphone Free Childhood have told MLAs that more needs to be done on phones in schools.

Parents Rosiland McClean and Charlotte Carson from Smartphone Free Childhood told MLAs on Stormont's Education Committee that parents were in an "impossible position".

"Our young people and children are carrying round supercomputers in their pockets with twenty-four seven access to the world and everyone and everything in it," McClean said.

"These devices were not designed with children in mind."

She said that she had spoken to many teachers and parents who had raised concerns about phone use, including cyberbullying.

"One P5 teacher told me of how children plan on WhatsApp the night before which child they're going to target at school the next day," McClean said.

She told MLAs that smartphones were a gateway to "unrestricted access to the internet."

"Parents everywhere feel like we have been put in an impossible position."

"We either give our children something which we know as parents ourselves we can find quite addictive, or we risk alienating them from their peers at a crucial stage in their development."

She said that although DE had given schools guidance to restrict phones, many schools were not complying.

"Lots of schools have good policy on paper but many still allow a so-called 'permitted use policy' for educational purposes," she said.

"I think we all know it's not possible to supervise 30 teens in one room on 30 devices connected to 4 or 5G."

Some schools in other parts of the UK only permit pupils to use old-style "brick" phones, which only allow calls and texts.

Charlotte Carson, who is also a teacher, said that a law restricting phones in school would stop individual principals having "to fight their own battle".

"If we have legislation we're not asking head teachers to fight battles with their parents or their communities," she said.

A DE spokesperson said Givan "recently engaged in discussions" with the Smartphone Free Childhood group about their work.

The spokesperson said 'The Parent Pact' initiative "empowers parents to work together to delay smartphone use, helping to reduce online risks and foster stronger connections both at school and at home".

"The department has written to schools to make them aware of this initiative and provide more information on how they can get involved," they added.