Pupils 'generally happier' after school's 40 day phone-free challenge

John Perlman speaks to Natalie Meerholz, Principal of Holy Rosary Primary School.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

It is no secret that smart phones are addictive, especially for the younger generations.

To address this, Holy Rosary Primary School in Johannesburg recently launched a voluntary programme to try and get grade 1-7 pupils to keep their phones off for 40 days over lent (14 February to 31 March.)

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Around 80% of their Grade 4-7 girls, 128 in total, pledged their support for the programme, and many of the younger pupils who did not have phones pledged to reduce their TV and screen time.

“This has been a long time coming… social media issues that we deal with on a daily basis take up far too much time.”

- Natalie Meerholz, Principal of Holy Rosary Primary School

After 40 days, only 44.5% of the girls managed to complete the full 40 days.

27.3% managed most of the challenge with a few cheat days, and 4% could not meet the challenge.

The aim of this challenge is to try and call for a delay in giving children cellphones and push for a return to a ‘play-based childhood.’

They are suggesting that children should not get phones before the age of 14 and should have no social media until 16.

Volunteers for this challenge found that they were initially bored but became less irritable, slept better and were generally happier over the 40-day period.

Meerholz says some of the participants have said they are a lot more aware of their phone usage and some have even stayed off their phone since the end of the challenge.

“Girls have been teaching themselves new skills. They have learned to knit, crochet, they’re baking more.”

- Natalie Meerholz, Principal of Holy Rosary Primary School

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.