Oxfordshire group warns children are at risk of harm by ‘doom scrolling’ hours a day
They're calling for phones to be banned in schools
There are warnings from a group in Oxfordshire that children are at risk of harm by "doom scrolling" for hours a day and are urging the government to ban smartphones in schools.
Smartphone free Childhood is national campaigning and organisation group made up of parents supporting each other in the decision to hold off on buying their children smartphones.
They are supporting a Private Member’s Bill which was introduced to Parliament yesterday, aiming to protect children from excessive screen time.
‘The vast majority of children are seeing harmful content’
Will Orr-Ewing is from Smartphone free childhood in Oxfordshire, he said: “When you give your child a smartphone, you think you’re giving your child access to the internet but you’re giving the internet access to your child.
“Despite parents wishes and despite parental controls, the reality is that the vast majority of children using smartphones are seeing explicit or harmful content from a very young age.
“The problem for parents is that they don’t really have a big choice, they either give their children a super-computer with unfettered access or they ostracize their children from their social group.”
Private Member’s Bill introduced to Parliament
According to an MP, the equivalent of "seatbelt" legislation is needed for children and their social media use to help them manage addictive content,
Josh MacAlister, Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington is a former teacher and has introduced a Private Member's Bill (PMB) in Parliament, to protect children from harms caused by excessive screen time.
The Bill was introduced yesterday and aims to empower families and teachers to cut down on children's daily smartphone screen time, will call for a legal requirement to be introduced so all schools in England are mobile-free zones.
In February, schools in England were given guidance under the former Conservative government intended to stop the use of mobile phones during the school day, but it is currently non-statutory.
The Bill is also expected to call for the age at which companies can get data consent from children without parental permission to be raised from 13 to 16 to make smartphones less addictive.
Other proposals include strengthening watchdog Ofcom's powers to protect children from apps that are designed to be addictive and committing the Government to review further regulation if needed of the design, supply, marketing and use of mobile phones by children under the age of 16.