As the federal government moves to raise the minimum age for social media users, a group of parents in regional Victoria is pledging to keep smartphones away from their teenagers, until they're 16. The movement, called the phone pledge, is growing, but young people and youth workers say banning teens from technology is not the answer.
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00:00Bouncing on the trampoline with friends and playing with a football are the kinds of experiences
00:08these mums want their kids to remember.
00:11I would like my children to have a childhood for as long as they possibly can.
00:14The statistics for mental health issues in teenagers and kids are pretty concerning to
00:19me and I think kids are losing their childhood to smartphones and losing their teenage years.
00:24Emma and Kate are just two of hundreds of parents in the Murray River towns of Echucamoama
00:29pledging to keep smartphones out of their children's hands for as long as possible.
00:35Stephanie Chalice came up with the idea to empower parents to take collective action
00:40against tech giants.
00:41We're saying 16 at a minimum, which seems really old, and it is at the moment, but all
00:47the research that's come out very, very recently has said that it's not good for kids' brains
00:53before 16.
00:54The mum of two started the movement because she realised it would be too hard to tackle
00:59alone.
01:00But if, say, I get together with 10 other people, who are all parents of my kids' friends,
01:05we all say, no, you're not getting a phone until a certain age.
01:09It just takes the issue away.
01:10There are growing calls around Australia on both sides of politics for tighter restrictions
01:15around children using social media.
01:17But some mental health experts say teenagers need to be part of the conversation.
01:23What the kids are telling us is don't ban us, teach us.
01:26Don't take it away from us because maybe you don't know how to use it, or you're scared
01:30of what is going to happen when I use it.
01:33Teach me how to use it properly.
01:34You can't really communicate with your friends, so you'd have to, like, call them at, like,
01:38a telephone box or something, because you won't be able to, like, message them on Snapchat.
01:41I reckon it's about a 50-50, I'd say, yeah.
01:45Bad stuff can be really bad, but when it's good, it's, yeah, it's nice.
01:48The federal government has promised to introduce legislated social media age limits, but these
01:53parents don't want to wait.
01:55Why would we hope for the best?
01:56Like, I'd rather just stop it now.
01:58Banding together to protect their children's future.