In Ireland, there's a school where children grow up without cell phones.

Greystones is an Irish coastal town south of Dublin, on the Irish Sea, with a population of 22, known for its seafront, beaches, and a very peaceful, family-friendly atmosphere. But it has become famous throughout Europe for a very interesting project led by St. Patrick's School, linked to the nearby church of the same name dedicated to Ireland's patron saint. 

The Greystones project isn't a law or a state-imposed ban: it's a voluntary agreement between schools and parents to delay smartphone use until the beginning of high school. And the shared ban applies both to school hours and the rest of the day when children aren't in the classroom. This is a significant step forward in a country that, home to the headquarters of tech giants like Google and Meta, sees children purchasing their first smartphone at an average age of 9.

In practice, the St Patrick School project works like this:

• parents commit not to buy smartphones for their children throughout their primary school years;
• the agreement applies both in and out of school;
• sports associations and local groups also participate;
• the pact is voluntary, there are no legal punishments;
• Many children may use “basic” phones for calls and texts, but not smartphones with social media and apps. 

The project is also known as “It Takes a Village” (literally: “It takes a whole village”), precisely because it focuses on collective action: parents are more likely to say “no” if others do the same and if they have the active collaboration of teachers during school hours.

According to the teachers and parents involved, the first effects observed were extraordinary:

• more physical play and live socializing;
• children less obsessed with social media;
• at the table they go back to talking with parents, brothers and sisters, friends; 
• fewer chat-related conflicts;
• greater concentration at school;
• less feeling of exclusion, because “nobody has it;
• bullying has been eliminated. 

St. Patrick's School principal Rachel Harper says: "I get calls from principals and school system leaders from all over the world. They want to know the details of our system and what the results are, so they can replicate it." Will anyone in Italy notice this, too?

Cover image source: The Irish Times

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