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northNothing has been able to stop smartphones from taking over our lives and those of our children. But the inevitable backlash is in full swing. It’s not just family arguments about screen time restrictions or parents’ often futile efforts to minimise exposure to adult, radicalising or consumerist content. With the growing perception that phones are addictive and interfere with children’s learning, creativity and concentration, and with over 97% of 12-year-olds owning a smartphone, schools have been taking action. In February, the UK government guidance issued on smartphones and some schools have since banned them.
Also in February, two concerned parents created the Smartphone Free Childhood WhatsApp group. The online community now has more than 120,000 members, “with a local group in every county in the UK and thousands of school groups within them,” according to co-founder Daisy Greenwell.
But what do the pioneering minority of children who do not use smartphones think about all this?
Anabel, 13 years old
I’m the only person I know who doesn’t have a smartphone. I know they’re pretty addictive. Some of my friends use Snapchat a lot – one of them has a three-hour screen time limit on her phone and spends all that time on Snapchat. Some of my other friends, when we’re together, are browsing TikTok or YouTube, and I feel pretty left out.
Sometimes my friends communicate with people they don’t know from another school, so I think social media is a good way to meet people. But there are also downsides to it, because you can come into contact with people you don’t want to talk to, although I don’t know anyone who has been bullied online. If there’s a person they don’t know, they usually block them.
One of the positive aspects is that I am more connected with my friends in the real world and I am in some WhatsApp groups on my mother’s phone, which helps me connect with, for example, the class group chat.
Yes, I feel like having a smartphone would distract me from other things. On social media, everyone is like, “You have to buy this beauty blush or that moisturizer.” And also, “Oh, I’m buying this because someone on TikTok says it’s good.” Then the next week, everyone is like, “Oh, you have this moisturizer, which is so old.” If you see that your friends know all the new trends, it shows that they are quite addicted to them. I spent a lot of time learning to play guitar and sing this summer and I don’t think I would have done that if I had a smartphone.
At school we have the Yondr program, where you have to lock your phone in a case. If you’re caught with your phone in plain sight, you get grounded. There are people who are so addicted that they can’t even lock it away for five hours a day. But a lot of people don’t take their phone out and you can talk to them.
Enrique, 11 years old
I was given a smartphone when I turned 11 and then my mom took it away from me because she said my attitude got really bad when I looked at it and it caused fights. She would tell me to stop and then I wouldn’t stop because I wanted to complete that level of a game or finish talking to my friends.
The games on my phone were fun, but the biggest thing is not being able to communicate with my friends during the holidays. I can’t talk to them at all. My mother says she will buy me a Nokia, but we don’t have one yet.
I think I agree with my mom in part that it’s better to be nice when I don’t have my phone. When I don’t have it, I just don’t even think about it. I have two younger brothers and often one of them would sneak off with my phone and look up videos and stuff like that and play games that I had. That would cause arguments between us.
The only reason I don’t want such a simple phone is because I use WhatsApp a lot and all my friends have it. I was invited to a lot of big WhatsApp groups but since I wasn’t allowed to use my phone much, I always ended up deleting them because I had too many messages.
I think I would use a Nokia if my mother gave me one, because often if I’m walking home from school and my mother and father aren’t there when I get back, it’s a real pain if I don’t have a way of communicating. The only thing I would say to them is: if you want to restrict me, make it harder for me to get around it. I got the password by asking them to do it and then just looking over their shoulder.
Jack, 13
I didn’t want a smartphone. From what I’ve seen with my parents, I find it a bit annoying; the constant ringing. The only thing I want a phone for is to communicate with my parents and friends, so I have an old Nokia.
Sometimes I feel a bit left out without WhatsApp and Snapchat, but then when I see what’s on there, it just seems a bit annoying and like nothing interesting is happening. They just send random stuff to each other.
I have a different sense of humor than most people. Some things you see on social media really surprise me. I think some people find it genuinely funny, but I can definitely spot people who just go with it.
I’m the only one of my friends who doesn’t have a smartphone. People always seem pretty confused when I say I don’t want one. Some adults say, “That’s fine,” but not my friends or other people my age. I’m pretty good at avoiding bullies, so I’ve never had anyone get on my case about it.
I read quite a bit. I’m probably one of the most advanced readers in my year. I don’t know if it has anything to do with it, but maybe I read at night when other people are looking at their phones.
Mikey, 11
I don’t have a smartphone because my parents think there are too many dangers. I don’t know what they are, they don’t want to tell me. I think they should at least tell me what they are.
Without a smartphone, I will miss the opportunity to be able to send my friends photos of life-changing experiences and to be able to video call someone and see them in person. My friends still call me, but they don’t talk to me as much anymore. They talk to people on WhatsApp a lot now.
I don’t think most of my friends are addicted to their phones. I think they’re just at the right age to have one. That’s why I’m quite upset. I’m convinced that late sixth form and early seventh form is a good time to have one. I don’t think it’s dangerous for a child to have one after sixth form. We’re mature: you start choosing your GCSEs in eighth form.
I accepted not having one for a while, but then many of my friends got a smartphone. I feel really left out. The fear of missing out is one of the main reasons I’m upset about it.