News Investigation

The Revolution Has Begun in the UK

Apr 2024 🇬🇧 After Babel (Substack)

Published on Jonathan Haidt's After Babel newsletter with an introduction from Haidt, this first-person essay by Daisy Greenwell recounts how the WhatsApp group she started with Clare Fernyhough grew into Smartphone Free Childhood, reaching roughly 75,000 parents within its first two months. Greenwell describes the movement's structure of county- and school-level parent groups and its Parent Pact model for coordinating delayed smartphone access, and states the campaign's position that children should not have smartphones before 16 and that any under-16 phones should exclude algorithm-driven apps and open web browsers. She frames the campaign as responding to concern about children's device use and social media exposure, and calls for UK government regulation rather than relying solely on individual parents to hold the line.

75,000 parents within the first two months

Greenwell writes that the movement grew to roughly 75,000 parents in its first two months.

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CITATION

Greenwell, Daisy. "The Revolution Has Begun in the UK." After Babel (Substack), 29 Apr. 2024. https://www.afterbabel.com/p/the-revolution-has-begun-in-the-uk

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