'Smartphones are like pokies in their pockets': Keeping kids phone-free
This Sydney Morning Herald article covers the launch of Wait Mate, a parent-led campaign encouraging families to delay giving children smartphones until high school, modelled on the US 'Wait Until 8th' movement. Alongside the campaign's founders, the piece quotes Michael Carr-Gregg — identified as the psychologist who led a 2018 review into mobile phone use in NSW schools — saying he links excessive screen time to sedentary behaviour, anxiety, lower self-esteem, social isolation, and reduced academic performance, and that primary-school-aged children should not have smartphones or social media accounts. He suggests standard phones or smartwatches can meet parents' need to stay in contact, and recommends children complete an 'eSmart Digital Licence' before receiving a smartphone. The article also quotes a researcher cautioning against treating social media as the sole cause of youth mental-health problems. TechKids Foundation cites this as a documented example of Carr-Gregg's practical smartphone-access recommendations for parents.
The article cites a 2020 Australian Communications and Media Authority finding that 46% of six-to-13-year-olds owned or had access to a mobile phone.
Taylor, Andrew. "'Smartphones are like pokies in their pockets': Keeping kids phone-free." The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 June 2024. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/smartphones-are-like-pokies-in-their-pockets-keeping-kids-phone-free-20240626-p5joww.html