The Phone Pledge is a grassroots organisation that aims to tackle the issue of children receiving smartphones at increasingly younger ages, with 2021 data showing 35 per cent of children under 12 owned one.
The Phone Pledge president Stephanie Challis was inspired to create the group after reading a book called The Anxious Generation written by American psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
“It has always been an issue that I have been concerned about,” she said.
“I read The Anxious Generation and he put out lots of statistics about how since smartphones have been introduced to children and teens, suicide, depression and anxiety have skyrocketed and how there is a very close correlation.
“He also talked about the need for collective action; it’s social suicide for teens if they don’t have a smartphone these days, so the only way to fix it, is by parents collectively deciding that their kids won’t have them until a certain age.”
The Phone Pledge is using social media to spark discussions about these concerns and to urge parents to postpone giving smartphones to their children.
The group highlights several worrying trends, including a rise in adolescent mental health issues, a decline in face-to-face social interaction, growing feelings of isolation and easier access to inappropriate content.
Parents who share the same worries are encouraged to make a pledge through the Wait Mate platform.
Wait Mate, created this year by another group of concerned parents in Sydney, aims to connect like-minded parents with children in the same school and year, allowing them to support each other in their decision to wait.
After starting conversations with those around her, Ms Challis was surprised to find that most parents she spoke to shared her thoughts on the issue.
“In terms of just talking to parents locally, I think it’s been really quite positive,” she said.
“I think I have had probably only two parents who have challenged me and disagreed, and that’s pretty good in the grand scheme of things.
“I have been really surprised by the number of people who have said ‘I don’t want to give my kid a phone either’ but I guess until you start talking about it, you just don’t know what other people are thinking.”
The organisation hopes to next get local schools on board to spread the word and to initiate conversations within school communities.
It is offering to support schools with these conversations by providing information about its organisation for newsletters and social media, and keeping the schools informed about the latest research on the issue.
More information on The Phone Pledge and its cause can be found on Instagram and Facebook under its handle @thephonepledge.
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