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Childhood in its own time.
Technology at the right time.
A community-led initiative bringing parents, schools, clubs and the wider Skerries community together to support informed, age-appropriate choices about children and technology.
Why this initiative began
The initiative is not anti-technology. Its central belief is that children should have access to the right technology at the right developmental time, while preserving the time and space needed for childhood, play, face-to-face relationships, independence, creativity, movement and real-world community life.
A central aim is to give parents accessible education and community support so that delaying personal smartphones and social media for children under 16 becomes a normal, realistic and supported choice. The proposed community direction is that smartphones are introduced from approximately age 16 onwards, while younger children who need a phone for contact or independence are supported to use age-appropriate alternatives, such as a basic call-and-text phone.
Parents today are navigating something entirely new. Smartphones, social media and constant online access have become a modern rite of passage, often arriving at the transition to secondary school. The research is now clear that for many young developing brains this is too much, too soon.
Most parents already sense this. What has been missing is a way to act on it together. When one family waits, their child can feel left out. When a whole class waits, nobody does. That is what is being built in Skerries.
This is not about fear or judgement. It is about understanding, and about giving families the backing they need to make a decision they feel good about.
Educate, Connect, Commit
Connect
Connect with the Turning the Tide community via our WhatsApp group or the feedback section in this website. Stay informed and stay connected on this important topic.
Join the groupCommit
Commit to signing the pledge, and see how many other parents have signed from your school and class. Commit to engaging in conversations with family and friends about what this initiative is and what we are all trying to do collectively as a community.
Sign the pledgeThe pathway in brief
Every family chooses the journey that suits them. No-one is being asked to say no to technology. The invitation is to consider a staged journey: a device that keeps a child safe and reachable first, a phone that texts and calls next, and a smartphone with the full internet and guardrails controlled by parents when a young person is ready to handle it.
- 1. Connect and move
- 2. Text and call
- 3. The smartphone
This is for the whole family
If you are a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, a godparent or the person who minds the kids on a Tuesday, this is for you as well. So many of the devices in children's lives arrive as gifts, or come out at the kitchen table when a busy adult needs 20 minutes of peace. That comes from love. This is not about taking that away. When everyone close to a child shares the same understanding of what is age-appropriate, a well-meant gift supports the family's decision rather than quietly overturning it.
For local businesses and community groups
Turning the Tide is inclusive, community-based and run entirely by volunteers. If your club, school, business or organisation would like to be part of it, the door is open.
Get in touch to see how you can be part of this inclusive community-based initiative.