Those early conversations led to a voluntary ban on smartphones across eight primary schools in the town and attracted interest from media in Ireland, across the rest of the European Union, the UK, the United States and Australia. Last year they brought in transition-year students to talk to the area’s younger primary school students in sixth class. I’ve no doubt that parents would have got bored of the voluntary ban eventually, but this makes it an ongoing process,” Harper said. The demonstrable effect of the voluntary phone ban was in how it had taken the pressure off parents and children, she said. His mother Alizia said she had “definitely” seen change in children she taught since the voluntary ban came into effect.

Source: The Irish Times February 28, 2026 15:02 UTC