The Problem
When children first started getting smartphones a decade ago, there was no research about their impact.
Now there is, and it’s overwhelming.
Smartphones are robbing our kids of their childhoods. They are having devastating effects on sleep, they negatively impact education, they reduce attention-spans, they expose children to harmful content, their use correlates with mental health problems and they’re highly addictive. Explore the evidence below.
Smartphones are highly addictive
Tech companies spend billions on making apps and devices that are intentionally addictive, affecting children in a way that is similar to gambling. 1 in 4 young adults show signs of behavioural addiction to smartphones.
Harmful content
Smartphones act as a gateway to pornography, violent and extreme content. Often kids don’t seek them out but are exposed to them via algorithms and messaging apps. Once seen, these things can never be unseen.
Cyberbullying
Disagreements between pupils used to stop at the school gate, now they follow kids wherever they go, 24/7. Young people who experience cyberbullying are twice as likely to attempt suicide and self-harm.
Devastating effects on sleep
Excessive smartphone use has been linked to less sleep and reduced quality of sleep for children and adolescents. Sleep deficiency has in turn been linked to depression, suicide and reckless risk-taking behaviour.
The Mission
SFC Portugal is a parent-led volunteer initiative that started off in Lisbon in June 2024. Inspired by Smartphone-Free Childhood in the UK, we’re on a mission to connect and empower parents to press pause on smartphones and social media for children.
Through open conversations and collective action, parents can work together to create slow-tech and low-tech childhoods, which research shows are essential for healthy development.
Parents hold the key to shifting societal norms within their communities.
Indeed, it’s the only way it will happen!
What we believe in
We believe that childhood is fleeting and precious. All children deserve the opportunity to learn and grow free from addictive algorithms and devices.
We believe in letting kids be kids. The things they need to thrive are simple and free: to play, to imagine, to connect with others and the real world – in all its messy imperfection.
We believe parents should be empowered to parent in the online world
Informed by their values and beliefs, in the same way that they do in the real world.
We believe change starts with all of us
We must link arms and collectively reject the narrative that childhood mediated by addictive algorithms is the only option.
Together we are powerful!
“When kids are on their phones all day, it’s not just what they're doing on the phone that matters — it’s what they’re not doing. They’re missing out on crucial experiences that help them grow into healthy adults.”
Dr Jonathan Haidt Official Ambassador
Professor of Social Psychology, NYU
Take action and connect with like-minded parents
Parents have been put in an impossible position.
Parents have been put in an impossible position. Either we allow our children access to devices and social media, which are proven to harm healthy development, or we risk alienating them from their peers.
Kids’ underdeveloped brains and sophisticated algorithms create an unfair fight, making it unreasonable to expect them to use or learn to use these devices responsibly. Big Tech is not going to step up, and regulation can’t keep up with technology. We believe something needs to change and it starts with all of us.
The Parent Pact
Join other parents at your school, who are pressing pause on smartphones until (at least) 14 or (even better) 15 years old.
No social media until 16 years old.
Find your local SFC community
Connect with other parents: hare ideas, find solidarity and hear what steps others are taking to keep childhood smartphone free. Find your school's chat group, or if there isn't one yet please contact us.