No phones at schools
Why the campaign “Wait until Grade 8 and No phones at school”?
Why is it important for children to wait with access to smartphones and social media?
There are several reasons why top Silicon Valley executives, e.g., Steve Jobs, preferred to put his children in a school where no high-tech was used in classrooms. Bill and Melanie Gates only gave their daughter a smartphone when she turned 14. In hindsight, Melanie said delaying giving a smartphone even longer would have been better.
Many published articles give parents and guardians a long list of reasons why we must delay children’s access to smartphones until they are in grade 8 or at least 14.
Keeping in mind that digital screens are actually digital drugs, then it even makes more sense to ban all smartphones with access to the internet and social media for children to the minimum age of 16.
We already know all the negative consequences of digital screens that quickly lead to screen addiction and exposure to negative stuff that have far-reaching implications for children’s well-being.
In other words, let us think of the internet as a vast dam full of crocodiles and monsters, waiting for children to jump in so that they can devour them. Why would we continue to encourage parents and schools to give screens and technology to children whose brains and bodies are not mature enough to manage screens effectively and who can’t take responsibility for their actions and their consequences?
We must know at least some of the most common reasons. We must also understand the neurological basis of what happens to children’s brains and bodies if they are too young and spend too much time on screens. These negative changes and consequences also apply to teenagers, young adults, and even older people.
Let us stand up to turn the tsunami tide together!
Accept the challenge
Join like-minded parents! Enough is enough. Accept the challenge today!
The dangers of smartphones
1) Smartphones are changing childhood
Our children need lots of fun-filled and stress-free real-life experiences with all their senses and free outside play during childhood. Also, meaningful and supportive conversations with their parents, families and friends are necessary to build strong relationships. They will then have more real-life (and humane) skills to grow into strong adults who can face the world with its incredible opportunities as well as challenges that need innovative and creative problem-solving skills.
Unfortunately, too early access to these smart devices is quickly changing childhood, negatively impacting the development of happy, healthy, balanced children. Playing outdoors, having fun, spending time with friends, reading books, and hanging out with family are happening a lot less. Many valuable hours are replaced by hours of social media like TikTok, WhatsApp, Snap Chat, Instagram, Facebook, video gaming, and catching up on YouTube.
When children spend too much time in front of screens, many childhood essentials and critical milestone development are pushed aside for watching stories, playing online video games (including educational games with too many built-in rewards), and engaging in edutainment.
2) Smartphones (with games and social media) are addictive
New research shows dependence on your smartphone may produce some of the same addictive brain responses similar to alcohol, drug and gambling addictions. Smartphones are like slot machines in your children’s pockets, constantly persuading them to crave more.
The tech industry intentionally designs smartphone apps and social media based on neuroscientific principles – for people to use for long periods and get rewards because this is how they make money.
3) Smartphones are an academic distraction
Elementary and middle school years establish the foundation for your child’s academic success. Children learn how to manage time, projects and homework productively. Introducing a constant distraction with a smartphone is paving a path for academic mediocrity.
The early results of a landmark study on brain development by the National Institute of Health show children who spent more than two hours a day looking at a screen got lower scores on thinking and language tests. Research from the University of Texas suggests the mere presence of your smartphone reduces cognitive capacity and test-taking brainpower.
One study demonstrated that using smartphones in classrooms can even lower a student’s grade. Another study found that children who attended schools with smartphone bans did better on tests.
4) Smartphones are altering children’s brains
Initial results from a groundbreaking study by the National Institute of Health reveal that MRIs found significant differences in children’s brains using smartphones, tablets, and video games more than seven hours a day. Children who spent excessive time on screens were found to have a premature thinning of the cortex, the outermost layer of the brain that processes information from the five senses.
5) Smartphones impair sleep
Studies show that using smartphones and other portable devices with screens negatively affects the quantity and quality of sleep in children and teens. Adolescents are likely restless because they anticipate receiving texts and social media messages from friends, which affects their nighttime routine.
Some children even wake up in the middle of the night to check texts or social media. Sleep disturbance in childhood is known to have adverse effects on health, including poor diet, obesity, weakened immune system, stunted growth, and mental health issues.
6) Screentime affects behaviour
A new UC San Francisco-led study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that tweens who spend more time on screens are more likely to develop disruptive behaviour disorders, with social media having an especially strong influence.
Social media use was most likely to be linked to conduct disorder. In contrast, other forms of screen use—such as watching videos and television, playing video games, and texting—were more likely to be associated with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).
Conduct disorder is characterised by violating others’ fundamental rights or societal rules with actions such as bullying, vandalism and stealing. At the same time, ODD is marked by a pattern of angry or irritable mood, argumentative or defiant behaviour, and vindictiveness.
7) Smartphones limit relationships
Many parents regret allowing their child to have a smartphone because they have experienced how the smartphone is destructive to relationships. The parent-child relationship suffers. Children are often inattentive to the constant distraction the phone brings. Face-to-face relationships dwindle as children shift their time and energy to investing in their online “friendships.”
8) Smartphones increase the risk of anxiety and depression
Children are not emotionally equipped to navigate tricky social media waters at such an early age. Viewing someone else’s highlight reel, videos or photos on social media often leads youth to think they are missing out or are not enough compared with their peers. Research shows that the more time someone uses social media the more likely they are to be depressed. A Harvard Business Review showed the more you use Facebook the worse you feel. Another report demonstrated that adolescents’ psychological well-being decreased the more hours a week they spent on screens.
In addition, when children overuse technology, the constant stimulation of the brain causes the hormone cortisol to rise. Too much cortisol can inhibit a child from feeling calm. The loss of tranquillity can lead to continuous stress and severe anxiety disorders.
Suicide rates are on the rise, especially for girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years old. For this age group, suicide rates have tripled over the past 15 years.
9) Smartphones put your child at risk for cyberbullying
Bullying is no longer limited to the playground or locker room. Bullies seek to harm children through social media and texts, often making retreat for the victim impossible. The most common medium used for cyberbullying is the phone. About one out of every four children has experienced cyberbullying, and about one out of every six children has done it to others.
Only one in 10 victims will inform a parent or trusted adult of their abuse. Recent research indicates that children who receive smartphones in primary school versus later in childhood are more likely to be involved in cyberbullying. According to the researchers, the increased risk of cyberbullying related to phone ownership could be tied to increased opportunity and vulnerability.
10) Smartphones expose children to sexual content and pornography
Smartphones have enabled children to view pornography anywhere. Pornography marketers intentionally target youth online to lure them to dangerous images and videos. One study showed that 42% of online youth users have been exposed to online pornography. Of those, 66% reported unwanted exposure to pornography, often through online ads.
Not only are children viewing sexual content with their phones but they are creating it as well. More and more children are “sexting” (sending sexual text messages and or explicit images). Also, various apps open the doors to sexual predators seeking to track, groom and harm our children.
11) Technology executives ban smartphones for their children
According to a New York Times piece, many technology executives wait until their child is 14 before they allow them to have a phone. While these teenagers can make calls and text, they are not given a data plan until they are 16.
If leaders of digital giants like Google, eBay, Apple and Yahoo are delaying the smartphone, should this not pause us? Executives who flourish on the success of technology are protecting their children from smartphones. Should we not do the same?
12) Technology increases exposure to harmful manmade EMFs from cell phones, towers, Wi-Fi routers, Bluetooth, and other smart wireless devices.
The increased electropollution in our environment adds another level of toxins to our bodies, which are already struggling to cope with the additional amount of, e.g. unnatural and harmful microplastics in our homes, chemical substances in our foods and cleaning products, pesticides and insecticides on our foods. There is also an increase in people with Electrohypersensitivity (EHS), auto-immune illnesses, cancers, infertility, ADHD, Autism and other neurological and learning disorders, etc.
Let us stand up to turn the tsunami tide together!
Accept the challenge
Join like-minded parents! Enough is enough. Accept the challenge today!
We can help!
Have you noticed that your child, partner, or friend can’t stop playing games?
Do you or a loved one battle to focus on anything but the game?
Are your gaming habits affecting your work or relationships?
Is it time to find a balance or stop?
We offer consultations, evaluations and coaching, as well as life-transforming and holistic TechnoLife SMART™ programmes.
You can also book Dr Marlena Kruger, Technology Addiction Expert, today to talk with parents, educators and decision-makers at your school, church group or any other organisation.