We were delighted to welcome Jennifer Powers from PAPAYA (Parents Against Phone Addition in Young Adolescents)  into school on Tuesday, 29th April.  She came to discuss delaying the use of smartphones and social media in children.  The event was very well attended, with around 100 parents in the audience.   The Director of Education at the SWAN trust, which represents many primary schools across Woking, was also in attendance. 

Jennifer's talk covered some very compelling evidence using statistics from the past 15 years as to why the introduction of smartphones is detrimental to young people. Themes included an increase in loneliness, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem in children who have had access to devices from an increasingly early age. 

She also provided many reassuring examples of how parents have managed to successfully come up with compromises around tech use with their children and highlighted the expanding market of available phones and other devices with heightened restrictions to the internet.  

The slides from her talk are attached below.