I’ve written before about the complete re-wiring of childhood that has taken place with the rise of addictive social media and smartphone use. After starting a national debate and securing commitments to further government action through my Safer Phones Bill I’m now focused on what more we can do at a local level here in West Cumbria.
I recently brought together school leaders from across West Cumbria to discuss how we can take a local approach to tackling the increasingly damaging impact of smartphone and social media use on the development, health and education of our children.
Working in partnership with schools, health professionals, parents and children and young people themselves, I want us to launch a local Parent and Teacher Pact . This pact has two interlinked elements to it. The first is to build commitment by parents to delay giving children access to smartphones until they’re at least 14, and keeping them off social media until they’re 16. I know this sounds far fetched, but other parts of England have done it and the results are so positive!
Most children have access to these devices and apps at a young age. I’m not blaming parents. I get it. The pressure to conform, to ensure your child isn’t the only one missing out, is enormous. The pact is all about strength in numbers – if your child knows that other kids in their class won’t be getting a smartphone for a few years either, the peer pressure instantly dissolves. So we need to get a critical mass of parents behind this in every school.
If you’re a parent and you’re interested in taking a lead in your school please get in touch. It won’t all be left to parents – this would be backed by more enforcement of no phone policies by schools, which schools are up for.
Being a parent right now is tough. That’s why the second element of the pact would be more support for parents when children transition to start primary or secondary school.
The idea would be to give parents and teachers time together as part of the induction to agree on the best ways to provide rewards, boundaries and attention etc. The evidence for doing this across a whole community is really encouraging and I’d like our area to be the first in the UK to give it a try. I’m working with school leaders and local funders to figure out how we can pay for this.
This new pact between parents and teachers could be transformational for the learning, health and happiness of children in West Cumbria. Given the scale of the challenges facing teenagers, it’s well worth trying something different together.
Josh MacAlister MP 