News Investigation

How a parents' WhatsApp group sparked a revolt for a phone-free childhood

Jan 2025 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 SBS News (Dateline)

This SBS News (Dateline) article revisits the founding of Smartphone Free Childhood roughly a year on, describing how Daisy Greenwell's conversation with school friend Clare Fernyhough about their daughters' interest in smartphones led to a WhatsApp group that grew, per the piece, to around 150,000 parents pledging to delay smartphones until age 14. It reports the campaign had by then spread into groups across 27 countries, including Australia, Nigeria, and Costa Rica, and states that Greenwell was by that point advising British MPs considering smartphone-related legislation. The piece links her advocacy to Australia's under-16 social media restrictions, quoting her describing that law as "a symbolic step to show the status quo can change," and frames the campaign's concerns around online safety, lost offline time, and mental health as associations rather than a single proven cause.

~150,000 parents pledged via Parent Pact (as of reporting)

The article reports the movement had grown to around 150,000 parents pledging to delay smartphones until age 14.

SFC-linked groups active in 27 countries

It reports the campaign had expanded into 27 countries, including Australia, Nigeria, and Costa Rica.

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CITATION

SBS News. "How a parents' WhatsApp group sparked a revolt for a phone-free childhood." SBS News (Dateline), 19 Jan. 2025. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/how-a-whatsapp-group-for-parents-sparked-a-movement-against-smartphones/mbx4syv9s

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