Good idea?: Cell phones banned for children under 13 in an Irish city

At school or at home, young people under the age of 13 are no longer allowed to own a cell phone in the town of Greystones, Ireland, where parents are said to have signed a pact to protect children, which could eventually spread across the country.

“If everyone is doing it at every level, you don’t feel like the odd one out. It’s so much easier to say no, “said Laura Bourne, the mother of a child in kindergarten, according to what had recently reported The Guardian.

In the small town of Greystones, parents and schools have made the decision together to sign a pact to ban cell phones for children under 13, in order to protect children from inappropriate content on the Internet and social networks.

This initiative was born in response to the growing anxiety among children, many of whom had to add the internet to their daily lives in the midst of a pandemic, the director of Saint Patrick’s school, Rachel Harper, reportedly told France Info, according to 7sur7.

“Their carefree years and their ability to live in the moment are shortened because they can easily come across content that is not age-appropriate,” she reportedly said.

But the “Greystones pact” would also help parents wondering about the age from which it becomes acceptable for their child to own a cell phone, also offering them ammunition to refuse.

The initiative could eventually expand to the whole country, after capturing the attention of Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

“Ireland can and must be a global leader in ensuring that children and young people are not targeted or harmed by their interactions with the digital world,” he reportedly wrote in The Irish Times in early June. .

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