00:00Bouncing on the trampoline with friends and playing with a football are the kinds of experiences
00:08these mums want their kids to remember.
00:11I would like my children to have a childhood for as long as they possibly can.
00:14The statistics for mental health issues in teenagers and kids are pretty concerning to
00:19me and I think kids are losing their childhood to smartphones and losing their teenage years.
00:24Emma and Kate are just two of hundreds of parents in the Murray River towns of Echucamoama
00:29pledging to keep smartphones out of their children's hands for as long as possible.
00:35Stephanie Chalice came up with the idea to empower parents to take collective action
00:40against tech giants.
00:41We're saying 16 at a minimum, which seems really old, and it is at the moment, but all
00:47the research that's come out very, very recently has said that it's not good for kids' brains
00:53before 16.
00:54The mum of two started the movement because she realised it would be too hard to tackle
00:59alone.
01:00But if, say, I get together with 10 other people, who are all parents of my kids' friends,
01:05we all say, no, you're not getting a phone until a certain age.
01:09It just takes the issue away.
01:10There are growing calls around Australia on both sides of politics for tighter restrictions
01:15around children using social media.
01:17But some mental health experts say teenagers need to be part of the conversation.
01:23What the kids are telling us is don't ban us, teach us.
01:26Don't take it away from us because maybe you don't know how to use it, or you're scared
01:30of what is going to happen when I use it.
01:33Teach me how to use it properly.
01:34You can't really communicate with your friends, so you'd have to, like, call them at, like,
01:38a telephone box or something, because you won't be able to, like, message them on Snapchat.
01:41I reckon it's about a 50-50, I'd say, yeah.
01:45Bad stuff can be really bad, but when it's good, it's, yeah, it's nice.
01:48The federal government has promised to introduce legislated social media age limits, but these
01:53parents don't want to wait.
01:55Why would we hope for the best?
01:56Like, I'd rather just stop it now.
01:58Banding together to protect their children's future.
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