"It is increasingly clear that smart phones are a distraction in school and a potential source of harm to young people. They are a useful tool in life, but they don't belong inside schools, and some time disconnected can only be good for young people. There are plenty of alternative ways for them to stay connected to parents when travelling outside school. We support this ban, and so do many of our partners and ambassadors."
— 
Russell Hobby CBE, Chief Executive Officer, Teach First

“This Private Members Bill has strong support from all benches in both house of parliament. Despite all the rhetoric from lawmakers and regulators,  harms to British kids from predators, algorithms, fraudsters and the sheer quantity of time wasted on digital devices are getting steadily increasing. And education attainment is threatened. That’s why urgent action is so necessary. I strongly support.”
— 
Lord Bethell, Conservative Member of the House of Lords

"The Church of England is committed to a school system where children and young people truly flourish. Smartphone free schools support the whole school community by managing student attention and distraction, mitigating some types of bullying and enabling our learners to engage fully with the broad, rich curriculum our schools provide. We are passionate about our schools developing pupils academically, socially, spiritually and ethically, and are confident that smartphone free schools will support staff as they continue to do so in their work."
— 
Nigel Genders CBE, Chief Education Officer, Church of England

“We have witnessed the corrosive impact of mobile phone addiction on many children. Children are at risk of being influenced by people and organisations with dubious motives and, because they are often isolated with their devices, there is limited opportunity for families to moderate the messages they access. I welcome this Bill, which raises public awareness of a pervasive and urgent social problem and offers a route map to safeguard our young people. This is a shared responsibility and key stakeholders must play their respective roles.”
— 
Sir Hamid Patel, Chief Executive of Star Academies

"By raising the age of data consent to 16 and inserting an overarching duty of care for children to be inserted into the Online Safety Act, Josh MacAlister MP has brilliantly given new force to both the Age Appropriate Design Code and the Online Safety Act. I fully support him in wishing to strengthen both regimes. I hope the government fully understands the strength of feeling of parents, teachers and children across the UK, and they see that this Bill reflects the wish of the public to see more robust enforcement of children’s privacy and safety by regulators."
—
Baroness Kidron OBE, Crossbench Peer in the UK House of Lords and Chair of 5Rights Foundation

"Parents everywhere are crying out for government to go further and faster in regulating Big Tech, so that they alone are not responsible for guarding childhood from the addictive and predatory algorithms for which they are no match. We need to start thinking about children's digital safety in a more imaginative way, going beyond just the harms, so that we can build upon the Online Safety Act and start developing a new regulatory approach that has young people's wellbeing and healthy development at its heart."
—
Joe Ryrie, Co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood

"We need to make sure that children are protected properly online: the impact of unregulated social media access and smartphones in schools on children’s education, health and well-being is an issue that needs collective action"

— 
Hilary Spencer, Chief Executive Officer, Ambition Institute

"Our country is sleepwalking into a position where children are addicted to harmful ‘electronic drugs’ and have no-escape from their digital dealers. This is why parents are now calling for urgent action. This Bill is an important step in the right direction. It needs to be passed without delay."
— 
Jason Elsom, CEO of Parentkind 

“It has become obvious that big tech is not self-regulating its relationship with children, and that smartphones are now damaging the life chances of children in ways too numerous to count. So we need a new regulatory framework that can correct the huge imbalance of power and resources between tech groups and parents, and that is what this Bill will start to do.”
— 
Ben Kingsley, Lead lawyer for the SafeScreens campaign

“ With any shift in society, we must both harness opportunities and take care to protect our children from unforeseen harms. The evidence is clear that mental health is not nurtured by unfettered access to smart phones for young people. To set the next generation up for success as people who will live with and through this technology in future, we must act now for a responsible approach to smart phone use for children.”
— 
Luke Sparkes, CEO of Dixons Academies Trust

“At OnSide, we see the corrosive impact that excessive phone use has on the wellbeing of the 50,000 young people that come through our doors every year. Our research with YouGov shows that phones have become the ‘activity’ that now take up most young people’s time outside of school, yet more than half of young people who spend most of their time on their phone wish they could use them less. This Bill is an important step to curb the harmful and unsafe aspects of phone use, and, just as importantly, to encourage young people to spend more time making friends, trying activities and speaking with trusted adults - in real life.”
— 
Jamie Masraff, Chief Executive OnSide

"Whilst Smartphones offer the considerable benefit of connectivity, the evidence shows that between 1 in 3 to 1 in 10 young people are exhibiting problematic smartphone use (PSU). These are behaviours that are consistent with the symptoms of a behavioural addiction. Legislation for social media companies to meet their current obligations would benefit the current situation. Coupled with better social media Apps co-designed by addiction psychiay, parents, tetrachers and adolescents."
—  
Professor Ben Carter, Professor of Medical Statistics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London

"Addictive phone use, especially from a young age, is a major health concern for children, not just their access to harmful content. In clinical practice, we are seeing the negative impacts of these devices on all aspects of child health and yet we have done virtually nothing to communicate this to parents to help them make informed decisions about when they allow their children access to a smartphone. I greatly welcome Josh’s Bill, which I hope will spearhead a robust public health campaign on this issue."
— 
Dr Rebecca Foljambe, NHS GP and Founder of Health Professionals for Safer Screens

"The Screen Demic and its ill effects are so entrenched in the lives of children and families in our country that nothing short of systemic and societal change will be required to manage this vast problem. I am delighted with this Private Members Bill, which will help address the gross inadequacies of the Online Safety Bill."
— 
Dr Sanjiv Nichani OBE, Senior Consultant Paediatrician, Leicester Children's Hospital

"Action like this is so important to effectively tackle the risks smartphones can pose to children and young people’s mental health. If we wait for the industry to put in place necessary safeguards voluntarily, we’ll wait forever, so this PMB is such a positive step."
— 
Dr Greg Hartwell, Clinical Assistant Professor & Consultant in Public Health

“Keeping children safe is our number one priority in schools and it is increasingly clear that smartphones present a significant threat. Any move to strengthen the “smartphone free” position that many schools have already adopted and takes steps to keep children safer online should be welcomed.  I very much hope this Private Members Bill gets the cross-party support it deserves."
— 
Bex Boomer-Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, Lift Schools

“As an optometrist, the impact of screen use and spending less time outside on children’s eye development is well documented. I fully support the aims of the Bill to help reduce excessive screen use and help teenagers and parents make more informed decisions rebalancing children’s formative years.”
— 
Daniel Hardiman-McCartney MBE, Optometrist & Clinical Adviser to The College of Optometrists