"Parents of tweens will likely be aware of the daily battle over when to give their child a smartphone. They are probably forced into discussing it over breakfast, on the school run, at bedtime – after all, no kid wants to be left out if their friends all have one.
Which is why a town in Ireland came together to devise a solution.
Parents and teachers in Greystones, County Wicklow, launched a town-wide ‘no-smartphone code’ in May, when headteachers from the town’s eight primary schools wrote to parents asking them to sign up to the ban. By coming together en masse, the thinking went, parents could do away with the peer pressure around smartphone ownership.
Now, ministers in the Irish cabinet have approved new guidelines on the banning of smartphones in school, which were brought by education minister Norma Foley on 7 November. The proposals would help parents to collectively implement smartphone bans, with government support. Ministers are also considering outlawing the sale of smartphones to all children of primary school age.
“We can already see smartphones creeping into our primary schools,” explained Rachel Harper, headteacher at St. Patrick’s school, which led on the initiative. “Parents, even at the junior end, were already getting worried about what age their kids were going to be asking for smartphones.”
Parental concerns around the dangers of smartphones are justified, according to the latest scientific research. In 2020, a systematic review of academic studies investigating smartphones, social media use and youth mental health found that, in the last 10 years, mental distress and treatment for mental health conditions had risen in parallel with the use of smartphones by children and adolescents...
There’s also a desire, said Christina Capatina, a Greystones parent whose daughters are aged 11 and nine, to prioritise face-to-face interactions over digital ones for as long as possible. “Childhood is getting shorter,” she said. “It’s really important for them to be in a place where they can be happy and enjoy being out, just being children.”
Parents in Greystones are now empowered to hold off giving their kids access to the devices until the age of 12, when they transition to secondary school in Ireland.
Eight months since the ban came in, what has its impact been? “It has completely solved the problem,” said Capatina. “Instead of having long conversations about it, this is so simple.”
The code is voluntary, so some parents have chosen not to take part, but enough have signed up to create a sense of phoneless-ness being the norm. While some in the media have argued that the code demonises technology, Harper refutes this: “We’re not against technology. We’re not against phones. We’re just simply asking them to wait till secondary school.” [Again, that's age 12 in Ireland.]
She said the launch of their no-smartphone code led to school principals all over the world getting in touch with messages of support, an indication it seems of how universal parents’ fears over childhood smartphone use are.
And with ministers now working on guidelines for communities that wish to follow in Greystones’ footsteps, Harper is proud of all she and fellow parents have achieved. “It’s nice to be an ambassador in a positive way,” she said.
-via Positive.News, November 17, 2023
417 notes
·
View notes
WASTELAND, BABY! [chapter one]
Chapter List Prologue Masterlist
Word Count: 2.3k
Warnings: language, mentions of underage drinking and drug use
A/n: hopefully this isn't as shit as I think it is 😭
1st Sep 1994▪︎ King's Cross Station
___________________
Irish Slang Dictionary:
Eejit - idiot, fool
Nicked - stole, robbed
You 'right? - Are you alright?/ Are you ready to go?
To cop - to realise
-------------------
One of the best places in the world to people-watch is King's Cross Statiion on a weekday morning, because you're guaranteed to see something different each time.
For example, if someone were to take a look around the station at 10:45 this morning, they might see things like:
Two old men playing cards at one of the tables of Costa Coffee, a young busker performing a cover of Hotel California by The Eagles as people stop and throw their spare change into the empty guitar case infront of her, and two Irish teenagers, hurrying through the station, shouting at eachother.
"It's your bloody fault if train leaves without us!" Y/n accused, glaring over her shoulder at her brother.
"Eh, How is this my fault?!" Seamus asked. The boy was walking fast but struggling to keep up with his sister, as he had to push the luggage trolley that held both of their trunks.
This was the first year that the twins had to head off to school without their parents, since neither of them could get off work today and it seemed like everything that could've gone wrong, did.
"Seamus, you were the reason we had to go back to the house in the first place. What kind of eejit forgets their wand?" She rolls her eyes, quickening her pace even futher.
"An eejit who's sister nicked half his braincells in the womb," he replied under his breath as the pair finally arrived at the wall separating platform 9 and 10.
The twins stood infront of the wall and gave eachother a knowing look. They have gone forward and back through this passage nearly 20 times, but they still didn't trust that they wouldn't crash into hard bricks. "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" They both said in unison, turning towards eachother.
"Ugh fuck sake!" Seamus cried, after his rock lost to Y/n's paper. The boy took a deep breath, quickly blessed himself in the shape of the cross (a habit he had picked up from his muggle granny) and took a running start at the wall, pushing the luggage trolley infront of him.
Y/n watched as her brother disappeared just as he reached the brick wall and waited a few seconds. Then, she wiped her hands on the sides of her Levi's jeans and ran towards the wall, closing her eyes as she braced herself for the contact.
When she opened them again, she was met with the bustling crowd of platform 9¾. Some were parents, who stood waving to their kids as they boarded the Hogwarts Express. Others were students who ran straight to their friends that they haven't seen in three months, greeting them in a hug. She took in her surroundings for a moment before a voice brought her back to reality.
"You 'right?" Seamus asked, putting his hands on his hips impatiently. 'You were the one rushing, now you're not bloody moving at all' he thought.
"Yeah, let's go," y/n smiled, for the first time that day. As led the way to the train door, excitement took over her. She was finally going to see everyone she had been missing.
Y/n hopped in the train first, taking both of the trunks from her brother as he passed them up, along with the crate that held her cat, Lynott.
"See, I knew we wouldn't miss the train," Seamus smirked as he climbed into the train. He took great enjoyment in annoying his sister, it was what kept him from being bored all summer.
"Alright Zoltar, sure you did," Y/n rolled her eyes in response."You off to find Dean, then?"
"Yup, see you at dinner" Seamus bent down and picked up his trunk, before disappeared down the hallway of the train carriage.
Y/n stacked her cat crate on top of her trunk and carried them as she walked the opposite way down the train. After no sight of her friends what-so-ever for good ten minutes, her arms were starting to get numb. It felt like they were going to fall of if she didn't put her things down quickly.
The girl looked into the compartment on her left and saw a tall boy wearing a patterned sweater, putting his luggage onto the overhead shelves. He was listening to a walkman that was clipped into the waistband of his dark denim jeans. His dark, overgrowd hair covered the side of his face, so she couldn't tell who it was.
Y/n put down her trunk onto the seat opposite the boy. "Hey would you mind if I put left these here while I find my friends? They're way too heavy to carry," she admitted.
It was only when the boy turned around, did she realise who she was talking to.
"Neville!" The girl's eyes lit up at the sight of her friend and she jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug.
As soon as Neville had heard the soft Irish accent of the girl he hadn't stopped thinking about, he turned around. What he wasn't expecting was for her to come flying towards him at top speeds.
"Woah," he stumbled backwards, he placed his hands on Y/n's waist to stabalise himself. His face burned red at the proximity and he akwardly wrapped his arms around her. The pair stood like that for a few seconds until Y/n pulled away.
"How was- you alright? You're a bit red," She asked, her hands still resting on his shoulders.
Neville nodded and cleared his throat before speaking. "Y-yeah, 'M fine,"
Y/n shrugged off his odd behaviour. She turned away to close the compartment door, trying to block out the sound of hundreds of conversations, before sitting down on the seat opposite Neville.
"To be honest, I didn't even cop that it was you for a minute," she admitted, opening Lynott's crate. "You look different... in a good way, like. You're taller than me now and your hair-"
"No, don't remind me about the hair," Neville interrupted, putting both hands ontop of his head to cover is hair. "I hate it,"
Y/n let out a laugh. "Well I don't. It makes you look like a rockstar,"
The boy smiled widely at the compliment, but y/n was too busy watching as her black-haired cat stretched on the chair beside her.
Her mother had bought the pet for her as a present at the start of first year (she didn't trust that Seamus would be able keep an animal alive so she bought him a new broomstick, instead). Y/n had named him Lynott after Phil Lynott, the front man of the Irish rock band 'Thin Lizzy'.
"Aw, I missed him," Neville admitted. He leaned forward in his chair to scratch behind the cat behind his ears. The feline closed his eyes and purred in comfort before hopping off the chair. The animal climbed onto Neville's lap and curled up into a ball. This was odd, seen as Lynott usually refused to leave Y/n's side.
"Looks like he missed you too," she smiled before admitting "We both did,"
Neville shyly smiled. His mind flooding with thoughts.
'She missed me.
She was thinking of me during the summer.
Obviously not as much as I thought of her, but still.
She missed me.'
○
A half an hour after the train departed, the door of Y/n and Neville's compartment was flung open by two tall, redheaded boys.
"Just the two people we were looking for!" Fred exclaimed walking in like the owned the place, before sitting down beside Y/n "Alright Finnegan," he asked, slinging an arm over the girl's shoulder.
The action wasn't unusual. Y/n spends a few weeks visiting Ginny at the Burrow every summer break, and during that time she had become very close friends with all of her brothers.
"Alright, Freddie. Heya Georgie," she greeted both of the boys.
"Alright Lucky," George responded with a cheeky smile. He had been calling her that nickname ever since they had met, in reference to 'the luck of the Irish'. He knew that it annoyed her too, which is why he says it all the time.
"I told you to stop calling me that," y/n rolled her eyes with a smile. "What're you guys doing here, causing trouble I assume?"
"Just sorting party stuff. Are you still good to DJ, y/n?" George asked, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe.
"Of course!" The girl replied, buzzzing with excitement.
The Hogwarts parties were a thing of legend. There were 2 big parties a year: Halloween night and the last night before everyone went home for summer. These parties were held in the Room of Requirement, and only 3rd years and above were invited.
Everyone that attended these parties, partied hard. Firewhiskey, sound system, strobe lights, the lot! Since most of the professors attended these parties when they were students, they turned a blind eye.
Smaller parties were thrown in the winning team's common room after a quiddich match. Students of all ages in that house could attend these parties because they were usually more tame.
For the bigger parties, the resident DJ was Dodgy Dan. Dan was a muggleborn Hufflepuff from Belfast who always worked at a record shop during his summer break, so he was always the first one to get his hands on the new muggle dance lps. The guy was a brilliant DJ, he always seemed to know exactly which tracks to fade into eachother, the problem was that he had a habit of not turning up (pronably due to the fact that he was always stoned). This is where he got the his nickname.
Last June, Dodgy Dan passed his N.E.W.T.S, after his second attempt, so the Weasley twins took it upon theirselves to find a suitable replacement for him over the summer. When they went to the Quiddich World Cup final a few weeks ago and heard the tunes blaring out of the Finnegan family's tent, they knew they had hit the jackpot.
"I have big shoes to fill," y/n let out a nervous chuckle. She had only been attending the parties since last year, so she still wasn't exactly sure how they worked.
Almost as if he sensed her worry, Fred pulled her in close to him. "Listen y/n/n, you're gonna be fine. As long as you turn up, you'll already be doing loads better than Dan,"
George glanced over at Neville, as he hadn't heard him speak the whole time that they were there, and saw him staring at Fred's hand placement around y/n's shoulders. 'Didn't know Longbottom liked Irish girls' he chuckled at the thought and made a mental note to tell Fred later.
"Speaking of Dan," Fred's head perked up, with a smile. "Since he's gone, we need to find a new way to access plants,"
"Which brings us to you," George crossed his arms with a smile. Both of the twins turned their attention towards Neville.
"M-me?" His gaze flitting between Fred and George, nervously. "What do you need me for?"
"Well, you're one of the only students that has a copy of the key to the greenhouses," George pointed out.
It was then that y/n realised what they meant by plants. "Lads, I really don't think that he's the right person to-"
"Well, the only plants I can get for you are the left over mandrakes from when that baskilisk was petrifiying people. Anything else and Professor Sprout will notice that it's missing," Neville explained, confused in their sudden interest in Herbology.
The twins looked at eachother in disappointment and were about to politely decline until he added. "Oh but make sure not to eat the root. It's a hallucinogenic,"
Y/n watched as Fred and George's faces lit up. "Yeah, of course not," Fred started, a grin etching itself onto his face.
"Wouldn't want any hallucinations now, would we?" George continued, patting Neville's shoulder with his hand.
A voice came from the outside of the compartment. "I wait in hope for the day that you two get your own friends and stop stealing mine," Ginny spoke, crossing her arms. "What are you doing here?"
"We, my dear sister, were just leaving," Fred responded, jumping up from where he was sitting and stuck his tongue out at Ginny, before exiting the compartment.
"See ya later," George smirked before following down the hallway.
Y/n hopped up and gave Ginny a hug, despite only seeing her a few weeks ago.
"We were wondering when you'd come to find us," she joked.
"Well, we were looking everywhere for you two," Ginny replied, pointing between herself and Luna, who seemed to have just materialised beside her.
"Heya Lu," y/n smiled, giving the blonde girl a hug.
"Hello y/n/n. Hello Neville," she said, looking over y/n's shoulder at the boy who was still sitting down, black cat still asleep on his lap. "Hello Lynott," Luna added, treating the animal as she would any human.
"I would hug you guys but I don't want to wake this guy up," Neville let out a light chuckle.
"It's alright, Nev. We still love ya," Ginny joked, ruffling the boy's hair before sitting down beside y/n, just as her brother had done a few minutes prior.
Neville, Luna and Ginny each talked about what they did over the summer break, but Y/n's mind was elsewhere.
She watched Neville, how his green eyes creased whenever his rosebud lips parted to reveal a cute, toothy smile. How his right hand carefully ran over the fur on Lynott's head, while the left one pushed stray hairs out of his eyes.
There was something different about him this year, and it wasn't just his height and his hair.
Next Chapter
Taglist [comment to be added]: @divinestarling @bookhoe33 @whotfskai @pursuedbyamemoryy @zippyskitty @gia999 @warrensluvr @h3ll0k1ttyl0v3r
155 notes
·
View notes