In 2023, the Irish seaside town of Greystones, just south of Dublin, launched a grass-roots initiative led by local parents, school officials and community members to loosen the grip of technology on their younger children by adopting a voluntary “no smart devices” code and supporting it with workshops and social events. Three years later, no one in Greystones claims to have cured the ills of modern technology, but they’ve learned that they can’t do anything about it one child at a time. Only a townwide effort could counter the kids’ “everybody else has one” argument. The movement, called “It Takes a Village,” has since grown well beyond this small town of 22,000 residents. In a country that’s home to the European headquarters of tech companies, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple and LinkedIn, and where the average firstborn child gets a smartphone at around age 9, the effort has struck a chord with everyone from local shopkeepers to national politicians. The goal is to give kids time to ease into the digital future rather than drown in it. After some 800 parents responded to a survey sent out by the primary schools — more than half said their children were anxious, and many had sought mental-health assistance — the town decided it was time to act. The community united behind the cause, with 70% of parents signing up. What Greystones has done has shown that parents and communities aren’t powerless.
