There has been a growing number of parents who are refusing to give their children smartphones after evidence continues to link smartphone use and mental health issues. One organization in the U.K., Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC), has had a an influx of members since it was founded in February. The organization, which was founded by Daisy Greenwell and Clare Fernyhough, has set up group chats for parents across the U.K. as a way to unite with one another who are not giving their children smartphones to alleviate peer pressure. The group has grown to over 60,000 members in just a few weeks and has expanded internationally in countries such as the U.S., Australia, Canada and Brazil. Others include, Austin-based Wait Until 8th, Unplugged in Canada, No Es Momento in Mexico, and the Heads Up Alliance in Australia.

The growth of this movement comes after studies have continued to show the negative effects of smartphones and social media use in children. According to Ofcom, by the age of 12, 97 percent of children in the U.K. have a smartphone. Meanwhile in the U.S., 42 percent of children had a smartphone by the age of 10, climbing to 91 percent by the age of 14, according to a 2021 report by Common Sense.

According to a study by Sapien Labs that was published last year, young people reported worse mental health outcomes the earlier they acquired a smartphone. The study used data from 27,969 18–24-year-olds which was obtained between January and April 2023 across 41 countries including North America, Europe, Latin America, Oceana, South Asia, and Africa. Seventy-four percent of female respondents that got their first smartphone at age six reported feeling distressed, while that number decreased to 52 percent for those who got their first smartphone at age 15. These findings have prompted parents across the world to take action. “The mass migration into a phone-based childhood has been really harmful to young people,” said Zach Rausch, a research scientist at New York University Stern School of Business and lead researcher for Jonathon Haidt’s number one New York Times bestseller “The Anxious Generation.” “The research has been building and the evidence of harm has become stronger and stronger year after year,” he added. “The lid has been taken off of the box and parents see that other parents are speaking up about this so we’re seeing this wave of parents coming together.”