Thousands of WA parents join grass roots movement pushing for a ‘smartphone free childhood’

Thousands of WA parents have vowed to delay giving their children smartphones until at least high school, as a grass roots movement gathers momentum across the country. Concerned parents from 17 Perth primary schools have joined forces to form Smartphone Free Childhood WA, while a separate national initiative is encouraging parents to sign an online pledge promising to hold off on giving their children smartphones. The 17 schools, mostly from Perth’s western suburbs, include Swanbourne, Churchlands, West Leederville, North Cottesloe, City Beach, Wembley and Inglewood primary schools. The SFC group, which operates independently of schools, is a community of parents choosing to wait until at least 14 to give their child a smartphone and to delay social media until 16. Jolimont Primary P&C president Pip Wilsie, who has two children at the school, is a member of the organisation, which is based on a grassroots movement in the UK. “If we change the narrative for our cohorts now, it will make such a difference later,” she said. Many parents have also signed up to national initiative Wait Mate, started by five NSW parents to “extend the nourishing, play-based childhood our children deserve and slow down, growing up”. The platform allows parents to sign an online pledge, promising not to give their child a smartphone until at least high school, with the option of waiting until Year 10. More than 2223 pledges have been made by parents from 309 WA schools, the second highest number in the country. Subiaco Primary School had the most pledges in WA, with 165 parents from kindergarten to Year 6 signing up. Hannah McKelvie, a member of the school’s Healthy Hub P&C sub committee, said the figure demonstrated the school community’s commitment to fostering “safe and mindful digital habits”. Wait Mate co-founder Amy Friedlander said collective action reduced peer pressure and family conflict over technology. “We are in a collective action trap at the moment, where everyone gets a phone because everyone else has got one, even though intuitively as parents we know it’s not a good idea,” she said. “Reducing that social pressure is key to shifting the norm, while the mental health crisis is so troubling it’s also hopeful to know a solution is in our hands and as parents we can make the change.” Once 10 families from the same school and year group have signed the pledge, the Wait Mate campaign unlocks and families can communicate with one another and share resources. Ms Friedlander said the average age of smartphone ownership was 10. “Children are receiving smartphones as early as Year 3 with the majority of kids having a personal device by Year 5,” she said. “Delaying the smartphone is feasible if parent communities work together . . . this gives kids more time for their brains to develop to better handle the distractions and dangers that come with the smartphone.” She applauded Hale School’s policy, revealed in yesterday’s The West Australian, requesting parents delay giving their children smartphones until Year 9. Ms Friedlander said growing interest in the issue from WA parents was in part thanks to local influencer and mother of three, Kyree Harvey. Mrs Harvey told The West Australian her own negative experiences on social media had prompted her to protect her children from it as long as possible. “There’s so much information and data available to us about how toxic social media is on young minds, it would be irresponsible of us not to make change,” she said. “As parents we all want the best for our kids, and it’s fair to say we don’t want them feeling left out or isolated. “So the end goal is all of us doing this together, so there’s no opportunity for kids to feel singled out. By pledging to all have dumb phones, it eliminates that social pressure to have what everyone else has.” She said she regretted sharing her children on social media in the past and hoped to use her platform for advocacy. Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said on Thursday public schools were welcome to go a step further than baseline mobile phone rules. Currently, public high school students may bring their mobile phone with them to school but they must be switched off and out of sight. Primary school students are not allowed to have a mobile phone at school. “The advice from the Minister of Education I spoke to this morning is that if schools want to go beyond that, they’re welcome to and that may be a decision for the local school community,” Ms Saffioti said. “I will continue to monitor this situation and see what has been the impact of those bans, and also, as I said, the schools are able to also make decisions that actually go further in relation to those bans.”