'Smartphone free childhood' event held at West Sussex village school

The event – named ‘Parenting in the Smartphone Era: the hidden impact on our children’ – took place last Thursday evening (June 26).

It was described as an opportunity for parents, carers and the community to ‘come together and learn’ from experts about the ‘hidden impact of smartphones’.

The event was parent-led but supported by head teacher Michael Tidd.

Organiser Annabel Dearing said: “This is a growing movement and there is an urgency about the push-back against smartphones, as parents struggle to navigate how to manage their children having access to addictive and harmful content, at increasingly younger ages.”

The event heard speeches from Mr Tidd, students, a children’s therapist, a safeguarding professional and a Cyber Protect officer.

The group of parents say children are being given smartphones at ‘increasingly younger ages’. and many parents ‘feel pressured to follow suit – worried their child will be left out’.

"But growing evidence shows that smartphones can have serious long-term effects on young minds, contributing to issues such as reduced attention spans, anxiety, self-harm, addiction, and bullying,” they added.

"Unrestricted access to the internet can expose children to highly inappropriate content, including grooming, graphic violence, adult content, and toxic online ideologies such as extreme alpha-male rhetoric.

"Many parents are unsure about giving their child a smartphone—and many more are unaware of the full risks.

"We’ll explore how to navigate this challenge and consider practical steps we can take – together – to protect our children’s well-being and shape a healthier, safer future.”

Annabel said the event was ‘well-attended’, adding: “We had about 80 in the audience and we had a mixture of parents from the school and wider across the region.

"We had some headteachers and a panel of experts. We heard a lot about the potential harms of unlimited access to devices.

"We had the backing of Mr Tidd. He doesn't have an outright ban on phones, but they are locked away.

"We are finding that as soon as they get to secondary school, it's just absolutely impossible to control it.

"We did also have Claire Walsh in attendance, who is Becky Cooper's constituency officer. She took a question about government's policy.

"I think that more schools will run events like that. What we're trying to do is aim at parents of the younger cohorts.

“Hopefully, we will get a mass of parents to agree to sign the parent pact and try to hold off giving children smartphones. We're hoping that it will have a huge effect across the country in just a couple of years.”