Counselor Matthias Rowe appeals to parents in Dalarna to wait until children reach secondary school age before giving them smartphones. The statement follows revelations of chat groups in Hedemora containing insults and death threats between children.
Matthias Rowe, a counselor at child and adolescent psychiatry services in Dalarna, reacted strongly to the events in Hedemora. He believes children could not have joined the chat groups without their own smartphones.
– We need to postpone children's smartphone debut – shift the norm back to it being cool not to have a smartphone – until they are in secondary school age, Rowe says.
Rowe has held lectures in several Dalarna municipalities over the past year to encourage parents to jointly delay smartphone introductions. He also stresses the importance of fostering a culture of mutual trust so children dare to raise alarms when issues arise.
