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Cambridge headteacher urges parents: ‘Don’t buy children a smartphone for Christmas’




A Cambridge headteacher is urging parents to reconsider buying their children a smartphone for Christmas.

Rae Snape, who is the head at Milton Road Primary School, is supporting the parent-led campaign Smartphone-Free Childhood and hopes parents will resist the urge to buy one of the devices for their children.

Amy Ruffell who is campaigning for smart phone free parenting. Picture: Keith Heppell
Amy Ruffell who is campaigning for smart phone free parenting. Picture: Keith Heppell

She is one of 13 headteachers of schools in the CB4 Cambridge postcode who have all signed a letter pledging to promote their school as smartphone-free.

Supporting the move is Cambridge parent Amy Ruffell, who is leading the campaign in the city to encourage parents to delay buying smartphones for children aged under 14.

Mrs Snape said: “I would say, think twice before buying your child a mobile phone for Christmas because it’s like the Wild West out there. A lot of social media and internet sites are completely unmoderated.

“Parents might think their child is being entertained, but they have no idea what they are looking at. And once a child has seen something they shouldn’t have seen, they can’t unsee it.

“The problem is not about phones in school, because children aren’t using their phones in school. It’s what they’re doing when they’re in their bedroom, when they’re walking to school, when they’re with their mates. They are searching for things that they shouldn’t be searching for. But once they do it, the algorithm works in such a way to provide more extreme content in order to keep the children online for longer. It’s a real worry.”

The letter, sent to parents and carers of all students at the schools, says: “I have committed to promoting our school as smartphone-free. We believe we can all work together and join the growing movement across the country to change the ‘usual’ age that children are given smartphones.

Amy Ruffell who is campaigning for smart phone free parenting. Picture: Keith Heppell
Amy Ruffell who is campaigning for smart phone free parenting. Picture: Keith Heppell

“To be successful this movement relies on you, our children’s parents, to resist the pressure from your children and their peers and hold back on giving your children smartphones until they are 14. In this way you will be working together with a wide network of parents and schools in this area to reset the expectation and remove social peer pressure.”

It cites recent research from a growing body of evidence that shows smartphones can cause significant harm to children’s wellbeing. According to Ofcom, 84 per cent of bullying in 8 to 17-year-olds is via their phone. And a report by King’s College, London, found those with high phone usage are twice as likely to have anxiety.

A report by the government’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said content seen by a majority of pupils was much more extreme than parents realised, explaining: “Girls as young as nine have told my team about strangers asking for their home address online. And in a room of 15 and 16-year-olds, three quarters had been sent a video of a beheading.

“My research has found that children are frequently exposed to a wide range of inappropriate and harmful content online, including sexualised and violent imagery, anonymous trolling and material that promotes suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. This type of horrific content stays online too long and is available too frequently, even when reported to platforms.

“In a survey I commissioned, around half of children told me they had seen online content they felt was inappropriate or made them feel worried or upset, with boys more likely than girls to have seen harmful content.

“While children will always be curious, most told me they rarely sought out this content. Instead, it was promoted and offered to them by highly complex recommendation algorithms, which are designed to capture and retain their attention.”

Amy Ruffell, Cambridgeshire Smartphone Free Childhood regional lead, says: “We are delighted that the forward-thinking school leaders in Cambridge have made this important pledge as new research shows worrying health, mental health and academic outcomes for children related to smartphone use.

“Following similar letters sent in St Albans and Southwark, London, we hope that more Cambridgeshire schools will follow suit and urge parents and carers to delay smartphone ownership removing the peer pressure element that most parents cite when giving their child their first smartphone.”

Amy, who has sons aged four and two is encouraging parents to consider the benefits of delaying giving children a smartphone.

She said: “It’s understandable that parents want to keep in touch with their children but we are urging people to consider giving their kids ‘brick’ phones until Year 9 because of all the harms unlimited access to the internet can cause young people.”

She is urging parents to download a ‘Parent Pact’ tool from the UK campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood. This tool allows parents and carers to pledge on behalf of their child or children) to delay giving them a smartphone until the end of Year 9, if not later.

Visit smartphone freechildhood.co.uk/




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