Delay Smartphones – Safeguard Childhood, Allow a better Future.
In today’s digital age, children are growing up online before they even have a chance to experience the real world. Social media, endless scrolling, and constant notifications are reshaping childhood—and not for the better.
That’s why we are coming together as parents through Unplug. Play. Grow. to delay giving our children smartphones until at least age 14/15 and social media until 16.
Founded by the Early Years Parents Focus Group at San Anton School, our initiative is driven by a community of parents dedicated to safeguarding childhood. We believe in giving our children the space to grow, explore, and experience life offline before the digital world begins to shape their time and attention.
Spearheaded by Dr. Natasha Attard, the movement is not against screens or smartphones—we are for childhood. Our focus is on nurturing real-world connections, fostering self-confidence beyond social media, and ensuring our children develop a strong sense of self in the physical world before stepping into the digital one.
As the saying goes, "It takes a village to raise a child." We are calling on our village—fellow parents who share our vision—to come together, support one another, and create an environment where childhood thrives.
a centre dedicated to providing evidence-based intervention for children with autism and developmental needs. She trained and worked in London, where she specialised in supporting autistic learners with complex behavioural profiles in a highly specialised school setting. This formative experience sparked her ongoing passion for working with children who present with significant barriers to learning.
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As a mother of young children, Natasha is increasingly concerned about the impact of early smartphone access on development and family life. She believes that supporting parents and educators in building healthier, more connected environments is critical. Natasha is passionate about pioneering change in Malta and is excited to collaborate with like-minded parents through UnplugPlayGrow to promote conscious, developmentally appropriate use of technology and more play-centred childhoods.
Smartphones act as a gateway to pornography, violent and extreme content. Often kids don’t seek them out but are exposed to them via algorithms and messaging apps. Once seen, these things can never be unseen. 90% of girls and 50% of boys say they’re sent explicit content they didn’t want to see.
Tech companies intentionally make apps addictive, because the more time we spend, the more data they harvest, the more money they make. By leveraging dopamine circuits, they trigger brain responses akin to slot machine gambling. 1 in 4 young adults show signs of behavioural addiction to smartphones.
Disagreements between pupils used to stop at the school gate, now they follow kids wherever they go, 24/7. Young people who experience cyberbullying are twice as likely to attempt suicide and self-harm. One in six teens report being cyberbullied in the past month, according to the World Health Organisation.
Rates of depression, anxiety and suicide in young people have spiked globally since 2010, when children first began getting smartphones. The first generation to grow up with smartphones are now adults – data shows that the younger they got their first smartphone, the worse their mental health today.
Underpinning all these harms is one that is potentially the most significant of all. For the first time in human history, children are spending more time on devices than they are playing – an activity crucial to our healthy development. Smartphones are experience blockers, distracting children from engaging in the real world.Â