Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

Assignment

Factual

Investigations and journeys into the heart of global events from BBC correspondents.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Assignment: Ireland’s phone-free town

Documentaries

News

Rachel Harper, Headteacher at St Patrick’s National School, Greystones

11/06/2024 GMT

Ireland’s phone-free town

BBC World Service - Assignment, Ireland’s phone-free town

The town where primary schools asked parents not to buy smartphones for their children

A year ago, headteachers of all the primary schools in Greystones got together. Concerned by pupils' anxiety levels, they asked parents to delay buying their children smartphones.

Greystones made global headlines a year ago when, concerned by rising anxiety levels among their pupils, the headteachers from all the primary schools in the town invited parents to sign a voluntary pact or code; not to buy their child a smartphone before they moved up to secondary school. In Ireland that’s usually at age 12. Beth McLeod talks to teachers, pupils and parents about their reaction to the initiative. Has there been any backlash? At one of the town’s secondary schools she meets an assistant headteacher who is passionately demanding a culture change around phone use for older students too, warning parents that although they think they are giving their children access to the internet, they are really giving the internet access to their children. She speaks to teenagers about their views on what is the right age to be on social media and asks the Irish Health Minister what the government is doing to hold tech companies to account.

Sources include CyberSafeKids: Trends and Usage Report 2022-2023

Reporter and Producer: Beth McLeod
Sound Engineer: Andy Fell
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Executive Editor: Penny Murphy

(Image: Rachel Harper, Headteacher at St Patrick’s National School, Greystones. Credit: Beth McLeod/BBC)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Assignment

Ireland’s phone-free town

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service