[ti:European Parent Groups Aim to Ban Smartphones for Teens]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-07-31]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]If parents say "no" when a child asks for a smartphone, the response they are likely to hear is, "Everyone has one. Why can't I?"
[00:17.87]That is the way that some parents in Europe are thinking.
[00:22.34]They are concerned by evidence that smartphone use among young children threatens their safety and mental health. 
[00:30.43]They believe that the more parents join their movement, the more powerful their ideas become.
[00:36.72]Parents in Spain, Britain and Ireland are using social media groups on services like WhatsApp and Telegram to talk about their plans.
[00:51.32]They want to keep smartphones out of schools.
[00:55.81]But for their plan to work, other parents have to refuse to buy children the devices before - or even into - their teenage years.
[01:08.34]Elisabet García Permanyer got involved after she talked with another parent in a Barcelona park. 
[01:18.09]Last year, she started a social media group to share information on the dangers of the internet with families at her children's school.
[01:30.79]The group, called "Adolescence Free of Mobile Phones," quickly grew and now includes over 10,000 members.
[01:42.81]The most involved parents are asking other parents to agree not to get their children smartphones until they are 16.
[01:55.24]"When I started this, I just hoped I would find four other families who thought like me, but it took off and kept growing, growing and growing," García Permanyer said.
[02:08.84]"My goal was to try to join forces with other parents so we could push back the point when smartphones arrive. I said, 'I am going to try so that my kids are not the only ones who don't have one.'"
[02:23.42]Police and public health experts have also been voicing concerns about the kind of materials that children can see on their mobile devices.
[02:33.17]Spain's government took note of the problem and banned smartphones from elementary schools in January.
[02:40.51]Now they can only be turned on in secondary school, which starts at age 12, if a teacher deems it necessary for an educational activity.
[02:51.59]In Britain last year, a 16-year-old girl named Brianna Ghey was killed by two teenagers. 
[02:59.48]Her mother demanded that social media on smartphones be limited for children under 16.
[03:05.21]Mother Daisy Greenwell, who lives in the area of Suffolk, England, and a friend, Clare Reynolds, set up a social media group called Parents United for a Smartphone-Free Childhood. 
[03:20.42]It grew quickly and an organizer said it now has groups in every British county.
[03:27.83]In Greystones, Ireland, eight primary school leaders, or principals, wrote to parents, asking them not to buy their students smartphones.
[03:41.34]Then the parents themselves voluntarily signed written agreements, promising not to let their young children have the devices.
[03:53.83]Thirty-eight-year-old Christina Capatina is a Greystones parent of two young daughters.
[04:04.36]She signed the agreement and said there were almost no smartphones in schools this school year.
[04:13.96]Studies from Spain, Britain, and Ireland show that by the time children are 12, most have smartphones.
[04:24.98]In Spain, 25 percent of children have a cellphone by age 10, and almost 50 percent by age 11. At 12, this share rises to 75 percent.
[04:43.36]British media regulator Ofcom said 55 percent of children in Britain owned a smartphone between ages eight and 11, with the figure rising to 97 percent by age 12.
[05:03.27]Over recent years, organizations, governments, and parents have been reporting that smartphone use by children is linked to bullying, mental health problems and loss of the focus necessary for learning. 
[05:23.46]China moved last year to limit children's use of smartphones. 
[05:29.46]France has a ban on smartphones in schools for children aged six to 15.
[05:40.02]The possible dangers have produced school bans on smartphones and online safety laws. 
[05:45.90]But those measures do not deal with what children do outside of school with mobile phones. 
[05:51.27]Parents and schools that have pushed for changes in their communities saw that it became possible the moment they understood that they were not alone.
[06:02.21]Rachel Harper is principal of St. Patrick's National School in Greystones.
[06:08.71]Harper wants parents to work with their local school to organize phone bans.
[06:14.11]She said, "There's a bit more strength that way, in that all the parents in the area are talking about it."
[06:22.58]I'm Jill Robbins.
[06:24.62]And I'm Mario Ritter.