Aussie parents, let's unite to ban mobile phones from every school in the country to improve our children's learning outcomes and enhance their social skills.

A desperate parent recently reached out to the Heads Up Alliance with the following story:

"I removed both my kids from [name of school withheld] Catholic College in Queensland last year as I had concerns with their mobile phone policy. At lunchtimes, my 11 year old daughter was looking on another girl's phone and making live contact with perverts and paedophiles through a website. As you can imagine this had a detrimental impact on her mental health and still does."

A deflated school teacher also shared her frustration:

"I'm a teacher from [name of school withheld] Grammar in New South Wales. Many non-teachers really can't grasp just how stressful it is in the classroom these days dealing with uber-empowered, short-attention-spanned, social-media-addicted youth."

These complaints are typical of many problems facing children in schools where mobile phones are still permitted.

In the past couple of years (together with friends Maggie Dent, Michelle Mitchell, Rebecca Sparrow, Justin Coulson, Madonna King and others) the Heads Up Alliance has successfully lobbied various state governments to ban mobile phones from public schools. We are proud to have contributed to this achievement, ensuring that mobile phones are now banned in every public school in every Australian state.

However our work is not yet finished. Many thousands of Catholic and Independent school students have been left behind!

Every day we learn more about the detrimental effects of social media on our children. We are learning that tech companies deliberately design apps to addict them. We are also learning that the compulsive use of social media is increasingly linked to rising rates of youth depression, self-harm and suicide.

Psychologists overwhelmingly support a school phone ban, stressing that children have not yet fully developed critical thinking skills. They agree that phones are a major distraction for students in class and can facilitate bullying and schoolyard violence.

One of Australia's most respected child psychologists, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, recently declared that a school mobile phone ban is more urgent than ever, "a no-brainer from the University of the Bleeding Obvious".

Leading cyber safety expert Susan McLean has also spoken out forcefully on this issue, declaring: “Let's hope Independent, Catholic and other schools follow [public schools]! This will be the benchmark for how schools manage phones and if a school chooses a lesser option I can see it ending in tears for all.”

We agree that there is a place for mobile phones when teachers specifically request them for particular lessons, or when students use them to monitor health conditions. However in all other circumstances, they should be "off and away" from first bell to last.

Join us in this vital effort to protect our children's education and well-being. Please sign and share the petition to ban mobile phones in all Australian schools now!

Update: This petition is now sponsored by prominent parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson.