We Must Rethink Technology in Childhood

"This Hurt My Heart" Mienna Jones

I’ve spent over 30 years working with children and families, but nothing prepared me for the emotional gut-punch that came from watching Adolescence, the powerful Netflix drama starring Stephen Graham.

I knew it would be difficult to watch—I’ve been researching the impact of mobile phones and technology on young people for a long time—but I wasn’t prepared for the ache in my chest, the tears in my eyes, and the lingering sadness I felt afterwards.

A Harsh, Honest Reflection

Stephen Graham said in an interview that some of the real-life stories behind the drama “hurt his heart.” That phrase has stayed with me, because watching this programme hurt mine too. It hurt in that way only truth can. Adolescence didn’t feel like fiction—it felt like a mirror. A harsh, honest reflection of what’s really happening in homes and schools, under our noses and in our children's hands.

We Must Rethink Technology in Childhood

Screens Before Connection

As an early years educator, I work with the youngest members of our society—babies, toddlers, children just finding their place in the world. And here’s what I know for certain: it starts early. So much earlier than we think.

From the moment they are born, our children are watching us. And more often than not, they’re seeing us looking down—not at them, but at a screen. We capture their first smile, their first steps, their breakfast—but we view it through a lens instead of through our own eyes. We scroll beside them, we reply to emails while they play, we check notifications in the middle of bedtime stories.

And slowly, without even noticing, we normalise the idea that screens come before connection.

What Happens Behind The Screen?

What Adolescence showed with brutal clarity is what happens when we let that continue unchecked. It showed the unimaginable: a family who loved their child deeply, who did their best, who had no idea what was happening behind the screen. A boy raised with care, exposed to content and influences online that changed the course of his life—and someone else’s.

We want to believe that "our children would never." But how can we be sure if we don’t know what they're consuming? Who they’re talking to? What they’re watching when the door is closed and the phone is on?

This isn't about blame—it's about awareness. It’s about ownership. And it’s about making a change, starting now, from day one.

Because I believe with all my heart that if we’re more present in those early years—if we limit their exposure to screens, if we show them what real connection looks like, if we prioritise face-to-face interaction, nature, play, storytelling, curiosity—then we are giving them the strongest foundation for the future.

Final Thoughts

This is a call to parents, carers, and professionals: put down your phone - we must rethink technology in childhood. Look at your child. Be with them, really with them. Your presence is the most powerful influence they’ll ever have.

I urge you—watch Adolescence. Give it your full attention. Let it stir something in you, as it did for me. And then let that feeling become fuel.

We cannot undo what’s already happened. But we can stop it from happening again.

Because childhood should not be a battleground of algorithms and influence. It should be a place of wonder, of safety, of love. And that starts with us.

Mienna Jones, Championing Childhood

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