Naas kids go phone free and put their time to good use
The kids from Holy Cross NS in Naas show off their art work
ELEVEN primary schools around Naas held a Phone Free Week recently, and last week their artistic endeavours on the subject were on display in Naas Library.
The participating schools included Gaelscoil Nás na Ríogh, Holy Child Catholic NS, Killashee Multi-Denominational National School, Mercy Convent Primary School, Naas Community NS, Rathmore, Scoil Bhríde Naas, Scoil Bhríde Clane, St Corban’s, St David’s and Two Mile House NS.
Following on from a successful community event at the Osprey Hotel in September 2024, a group of participating schools this year hosted Go Phone Free Week from 13-17 October, which included a variety of educational and entertaining events to get children and their parents talking about the initiative and hopefully implementing it in their homes. The programmes hosted by the various schools included informative talks and shows for children, such as Reuben the Entertainer and his shows ‘Distracted’ and ‘Fooled’, Stephen McGinley the entertainer and juggler, and psychologist Paula O’Connor with ‘Don’t be mean behind your screen’.
They also put on old-fashioned board games and Fuinseog Woodland Games, where children spent the day playing traditional games made from natural wooden materials, a dress-up day in the colours of the initiative, and a town-wide art poster competition, the winners of which are currently displayed in Naas Library.
A representative from Naas Community NS remarked that it was a week filled with play, art, curiosity and face-to-face conversations!
The shared hope is that this initiative continues to gain traction with families in Naas, and that together communities can foster a culture that prioritises childhood and balances technology use in a mindful way. To find out more information about this initiative and how to implement it, contact Mercy Convent Naas Parents’ Association at mercyconventnaaspa@gmail.com.
In 2024, a survey carried out by Irish charity CyberSafeKids revealed that a staggering 94% of children aged between eight and 12 owned a smart device of some kind, and of these children 82% owned a social media or instant messaging account.
A quarter of these same children reported being bothered or upset by something experienced or seen online.
Spurred on by the growing body of research evidencing the deleterious emotional, social and academic effects of early access to smartphones and social media, and encouraged by the success of other movements in Ireland to address this, the parents’ associations, management and staff of 11 primary schools in the Naas area last year launched their ‘Go Phone Free’ initiative.
This invites parents and guardians collectively to agree, in respect of their children, to the following code: no smartphones while in primary school, no social media while in primary school, and to respect the age rating on video games.
