A Spalding campaigner says parents are concerned about how much time children are spending on phones
Parents from across Lincolnshire are signing a pact to limit children's smartphone usage
Last updated 8th Apr 2025
A campaigner from Spalding says that children are being exposed to too much harmful content online.
Parents from 150 schools across Lincolnshire have signed a pact agreeing to wait until at least the end of Year 9 before getting their child a smartphone.
The Smartphone Free Childhood campaign helps parents with the challenges of social media and phones for children.
The campaign group found that 90% of girls and 50% of boys say they’re sent explicit content they didn’t want to see.
As well as this 1 in 4 young adults show signs of behavioural addiction to smartphones.
I feel like this would get rid of a lot of those issues
Lisa, who campaigns for smartphone free childhoods, said:
"The parents that have already given their child a smartphone have expressed concerns of how much time they're spending on it or about bullying and being messaged by people they don't know."
"There's so many issues that happen in school with photos being taken or videos being shared or bullying on messages and I feel like this would get rid of a lot of those issues."
"Schools are the ones who can make a real difference. I think if they were telling us that they don't need smartphones I think it would make parents thing about it more."
"Also if the children didn't have their phone on them for at least school hours then it's pulling away from that addictive nature."
There's so many issues that happen in school with phones
Smartphone Free Childhood found that 12-15year-olds in the UK spend an average of 35 hours a week on their smartphone which campaigners say leaves little time for the real world activities and relationships.
This means the average daily time that teens are spending with friends is plummeting.