South African Primary School goes phone free for 40 days

Future Smart Parent

In this episode Jude speaks with Natalie Meerholz, the headmistress of Holy Rosary Primary School, who started this campaign where many students pledged to go ‘phone-free’ for 40 days.

The campaign was about calling for the delay of smartphone ownership in children "in a bid to restore a play-based childhood and to protect the mental health and well-being of its learners."

We know that with technology our children have more access to information than any generation before them. And while there are many wonderful benefits to technology, there is also a lot of inappropriate content and honestly, their brains are not able to cope with what they see, especially while they’re in primary school.

Natalie and Jude discuss the experience and what students went through during the 40 days. Some pupils volunteered to journal and anonymously share their experiences.

"Initial feedback shows that children found themselves bored, not knowing how to occupy their time. This isn't a bad thing because children who are allowed to experience boredom are more creative and innovative.

"They are forced to either learn a new skill, create something new, or think outside the box, and it was our hope that the campaign would push this to happen.”

At the end of the episode Jude also got to talk to some of the girls and hear their personal experiences of going without their phones for 40 days.

Connect with Holy Rosary School for Girls:

https://www.facebook.com/HolyRosaryJHB/

https://www.instagram.com/holyrosaryjhb/

Resources mentioned:

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

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