Our Campaigns
Call for child-safe phones in the UK
We are calling on the relevant companies to make safe phones for children available in the UK. That means phones that come already set-up to be completely safe for children with no app store, no social media, no internet browser, parental controls built-in. Either no internet at all or a selection of safe and carefully selected benefitial apps.
Several successful products like this exist in th USA: Gabb Phone, Bark Phone, Troomi, Pinwheel. These or similar phones should be available in the UK to keep children safe and connected.
Adults smartphones come with the app store and internet browser built-in. They are built for social media, news feeds and streaming services and because kids know this, even with the best parental controls kids are constantly campaigning for more apps. It opens the door to a slippery slope to addictive apps. Giving a child an adult smartphone with parental controls is a full-time job. There are always glitches, app updates and loopholes. Kids can find ways around the controls.
Even putting a so-called child-safe or talk and text only SIM card into a smartphone still allows children to access Wi-Fi at home and elsewhere. This even applies to SIM cards that claim to be safe for kids. They cant stop wifi internet access.
With basic phones designed for kids this isn’t even possible. Phones designed for kids offer protection for children while connecting families and encouraging life outside the screen.
They allow them to call, text and access a basic suite of apps such as an mp3 player, camera, calculator, calendar, and alarm. Picture messaging, video calls and child-friendly offline games are optional.
Phones with bespoke operating systems are designed to let kids be kids. They support outdoor play, book reading, and spending time with friends and exclude everything that leads to poor quality screen time, including web browsers and social media. These devices are designed specifically to help children establish healthy tech behaviours for life.
Kids phones should be tough and water-resistant. They should offer an attractive design, beyond most basic phones, but without all the unnecessary rubbish that comes with a smartphone: No notifications, news feeds, social media or advertisements.
We need phones designed for children now!
We are in touch with companies to make safe phones for children available in the UK. We need to prove to them that the market exists.
Make Primary Schools Internet-Free: All Homework and Classwork Offline
As a parent of two young children, I am deeply troubled by the increasing use of the internet in our primary schools. My 7-year-old and 10-year-old are exposed to the internet during school hours, where instead of focusing on their studies, they are distracted by online games, scrolling and sending unnecessary emails. Teachers use YouTube videos for teaching that come with advertisements. The gamification of online schoolwork and homework distorts the intrinsic value of learning through rewards and gratification and incentivises screentime.
The digital platforms require our children to agree to cookies and data collection practices they do not fully understand. This raises serious concerns about their digital rights and personal data security.
Studies have shown that excessive screen time can negatively impact children's cognitive development (American Academy of Pediatrics). Additionally, research indicates that traditional teaching methods still play a crucial role in fostering creativity and critical thinking skills (National Education Association).
We want our children to have an education that prioritizes their well-being over convenience or technological trends. We urge educational authorities to reconsider the extensive use of internet in primary school classrooms and homework assignments.
Please sign this petition to reduce internet use in primary education.
The petition will support letters to local education authorities and our devolved governments.
Call on the Scottish Government to ban smartphones in schools
by Laura Mysak
Sign the petition at change.org
I am a parent of two school age children in Scotland and have been campaigning my kids' local school, appealing to them to consider banning the use of smartphones during the school day.
I contacted the Scottish Government to ask if they could provide guidance to headteachers to give them the authority to impose bans.
I was shocked when the response came back that the Scottish Government cannot and will not do this and it is up to individual schools to decide what to do.
I believe that individual headteachers are finding it difficult to consider mobile phone bans because the devices are becoming entrenched in their schools' infrastructures, being used for research, online educational games, connections with school systems for homework etc.
However, there is growing concern around childrens' attainment in Scotland and I believe the use of smartphones in schools could be partly responsible.
There have been numerous studies done on the effects of smartphone use on children's brains and yet, in Scotland, there doesn't seem to be the push from the government to discourage it's use by children and in schools.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth needs to listen to the research that has been conducted globally on the detrimental effects of smartphone use in children and actively discourage its use.
She can do this by supporting educational establishments in their decisions to ban the use of smartphones. She can help parents with the decision of whether to buy their child a smartphone by actively discouraging it in the form of campaigns.
If she doesn't help, our childrens' attainment will fall and their mental health will suffer.
We need our government to step up and take the lead on this critical issue for the sake of our children. Please sign.
Schools: Stop posting our kids on social media
Sign the petition here.
Schools are competing with each other publicly on social media and children are paying the price. Teachers are compelled to photograph children daily to share school activities on social media platforms such as X, formerly Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. While this may be convenient and nice for parents to see pictures of their children, it puts children at risk and sends the wrong message about over-sharing.
Asking for parental consent is not enough. Whether or not parents provide consent the process of continually photographing children at school normalises a culture of sharing publicly and doesn’t set an example of good digital habits. We don't need to share everything.
Sharing photos of school children publicly on social media is of no benefit to children and disregards their digital rights. Primary school children are not old enough to legally use social media or fully understand the implications of having their images posted.
If they have to share, schools should use alternative, secure, closed groups at no cost to families. Local authorities should provide this service at no cost, or else stop sharing.
Action is needed at government level because nearly all schools seem to do this in competition with each other. Lets end this now so that kids can focus on learning and being present rather than living their lives through social media from a young age.
Connect with parents delaying smartphones in your area and sign the pact at Smartphone-Free Childhood
