Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

The Community That Proved Parents Are Not Powerless Against Phones

In the small Irish seaside town of Greystones, just south of Dublin, something genuinely unusual is happening: children are growing up without smartphones, and most of them say they are fine with it. In 2023, local parents, school principals and community members launched a voluntary program called It Takes a Village, asking families to agree not to give their children smart devices before secondary school, which most children begin at around age 12. Seventy percent of parents signed on, and the whole town threw itself behind the effort, with shopkeepers, teachers, youth workers and neighbors all playing a role. The push came after a survey found more than half of local parents reported their children were anxious, with teachers describing students who arrived at school too upset by overnight messages to focus, or who had accidentally encountered violent and disturbing content online.

What made the effort work, organizers say, is exactly what made it different from anything a single family could do alone. The most powerful thing parents discovered was that the program eliminated the argument every child makes: everyone else has one. When an entire town agrees together, that argument simply disappears. Three years on, parents say the pressure to get a smartphone before the end of primary school has essentially vanished, children are reported to be more alert in class, and kids are making plans in person and spending more time outside. The idea has since inspired similar movements in Britain and drawn interest from members of both the Irish and European parliaments. One teacher in Greystones who now speaks regularly with communities hoping to do the same describes the effort as imperfect and temporary, but says it proves something important: that parents are not powerless, and that changing the culture around children and technology is possible when a community decides to move together.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/realestate/ireland-cell-phones-children.html

PrevPreviousWikipedia Just Officially Banned AI From Writing Its Articles
NextFrom Janitor To Doctor At YaleNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Scientists Just Proved That Your Brain Can Dream While You Are Wide Awake

May 11, 2026

A study from the Paris Brain Institute, published in Cell Reports, has overturned something most people take for granted: that dreaming and waking are two cleanly separate mental states, each with their own type of thoughts. Researchers monitored 92 adults using EEG caps as they drifted into and out of

Read More
Happy News

A Kitten Found Covered Head To Tail In Industrial Glue Just Made A Full Recovery And Has A New Home

May 11, 2026

When a good Samaritan in Fort Worth, Texas, discovered a small kitten stuck in a bucket of industrial-strength glue near an industrial area in April and rushed him to the Humane Society of North Texas, shelter staff were not sure the tiny animal would survive the night. The glue was

Read More
Happy News

The FDA Just Gave Pancreatic Cancer Patients Early Access To A Pill That Doubled Survival Time

May 11, 2026

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized early expanded access to a new pill called daraxonrasib, developed by Revolution Medicines, giving patients with advanced pancreatic cancer a chance to receive the experimental treatment while it awaits full regulatory approval, in a move the agency completed just two days after receiving

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.