No Phones at Home Day has been created by psychologist and psychotherapist Dr Charlotte Armitage. Through her career in mental health working with schools, children, parents, individuals, television contributors, organisations and international corporations, Charlotte has witnessed the impact that technology is having on our mental health.
National No Phones at Home Day
20th January 2024
On National No Phones at Home Day, we will be encouraging all parents to consciously turn their phones off, to switch ipads and devices off, and to undertake activities to connect with their children. Through my own explorations, I have found that the behaviour of my child and our relationship improved instantly when devices were removed, and focus was placed on doing tasks together. As adults, we all know how frustrating it is to be snubbed by someone favouring a device over listening to us, and we cannot underestimate the impact that this will have on our children’s sense of worth and wellbeing.
“For our happiness and survival, we need depth of relationships. We need to understand how to resolve conflict, how to tolerate differences, how to be respectful of one another, how to communicate face to face with other people. These skills which comprise the art of relationships are being lost as we become a society of individuals who are face down in their smart phones, favouring online interactions and mindless scrolling over communicating in person. It is my aim through National No Phones at Home Day to encourage families to put the phone away and focus on connecting with their children at home. Undertaking activities together, this can be something as simple as sorting the kitchen cupboard out or folding clothes, or it could be baking, drawing, playing a game; anything that encourages families to connect with each other without devices around. If we can all spend more time away from devices over time and more time connecting with each other, we can help to support the healthy psychological development of our children. Mobile phones are known for impacting the mental health and attitudes of us all, this is especially dangerous for young people because they are more susceptible to the impact of the dangers online, furthermore this toxic online world replaces their healthy foundation which is dangerous for so many reasons. It is my aim to encourage every family to spend at least a day a week without phones at home.”
1 in 5 smartphone users spends upwards of 4.5 hours on average on their phones every day.
Daily average screen time for females is approximately 2 hours 47 minutes, compared to 2 hours 34 minutes for males.
78% of females claim to spend more time on their smartphones than their partners.
Males also believe they spend more time on their smartphones than their partners, a lower proportion claimed to do so (64%).
Sign up to receive updates and ideas for No Phones At Home Day!
Join us on Saturday 20th January 2024 in putting your phone down for National No Phones at Home Day. In the lead up to the day, we will be putting activities on the website to inspire people with activities for the day.
Become a No Phones at Home Day Ambassador
Are you conscious of the need to reduce time spent on smart devices?
We’re looking for people to join our community who are passionate about raising awareness around the impact of social devices on our mental and psychological wellbeing. Perhaps you have a family, work in education, the community, with young people or an organisation looking to make a positive difference in society?
If you’d like to know more about our ambassador programme, please do get in touch.
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