Belvedere College SJ
PER VIAS RECTAS
PER VIAS RECTAS
Campaign: Smart Phone Liberation
Campaign ~ Smartphone Liberation
The Campaign ‘Smartphone Liberation’ is an initiative by Belvedere College, SJ, aimed at freeing young students from over-dependence on mobile devices. The campaign envisions a world where students are not pressured by notifications or the number of likes they receive, allowing them to become their true selves. The initiative is aware of the psychological harm associated with excessive smartphone use and emphasizes the value of having a few true friends over hundreds of virtual ones.
The campaign targets the excessive reliance on devices that limits students’ availability for meaningful human relationships, diminishes their capacity for critical thinking, and impedes the blossoming of their unique talents and creativity. It encourages face-to-face communication, independent thought processes, and hands-on learning to foster values like empathy, resilience, tenacity, and creativity.
Belvedere College, SJ, invites all stakeholders to support the ‘Smartphone Liberation’ campaign. For it to succeed, everyone—including parents, students, and staff—must participate. The Headmaster has highlighted the threats posed by smartphone overuse to students’ safety, performance, mental health, and general welfare. In the College Newsletter of May 15, 2024, he noted that overuse of smartphones affects students’ ability to study. A survey by Studyclix revealed that over a third of students used their phones for more than four hours a day, with some using them for six hours or more. Rather than a no-phone approach, the Headmaster suggests parents encourage self-awareness and use distraction-blocker apps like the Forest App to manage phone use healthily.
Richard Hogan’s insights on parenting “SCREENAGERS” are highly recommended. His article in the Irish Examiner on September 17, 2023, reiterates the need for both adults and adolescents to address issues like prolonged screen time, cyberbullying, exposure to pornography, sexting, and potential blackmail.
The Headmaster emphasized the importance of working together to help young people manage their screen use. Both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android offer features to manage screen time. For Apple devices, “Screen Time” is part of the operating system, while Android devices have “Digital Wellbeing,” which can be installed from the Google Play Store if not built-in.
The advice is clear: avoid having phones in the bedroom and ensure family mealtimes are screen-free. The campaign aims to develop a phone-free environment without simply banning devices, which does not empower students to control their use. Parents need to be aware of what their children are viewing to avoid detrimental effects.
Belvedere College, SJ, calls on all stakeholders to support the ‘Smartphone Liberation’ campaign. The first step is to educate ourselves on the impact of smartphone overuse on human personality.
Further information is available in the provided resources
Click the links below to access resources:
Parent’s Guide to a better Internet
Dangerous Ideas Students are fed online
Richard Hogan, newspaper article – Do you know what your child is doing online?
Richard Hogan interview – Teenagers and phones