Dr Marlena Kruger, a digital wellness expert, coach and NeuroMentor, TEDx and motivational speaker and Doctor of Psychology of Education, is renewing calls for parents to rethink when and why to get children their first cell phone, through her national “Wait until Grade 8 – No Phones at School” and “Jump of Joy” campaigns.
This forms part of a growing worldwide movement, with legislation implemented in countries like Australia, France, and the UK. Already, 20 countries worldwide are at different stages of developing and implementing laws to ban access to smartphones because of the negative health impact on children, especially their physical and mental well-being.
The campaigns encourage parents to delay giving children a cell phone until at least Grade 8, in line with age restrictions already set by platforms like Facebook (13+) and WhatsApp (16+). Dr Kruger’s related “No Cell Phones at School” initiative, launched in partnership with Roosevelt High School in September 2022, is supported by UNESCO and mirrors similar restrictions already in place in France, the Netherlands, Finland, Australia and China.
“I am over the moon about the outcomes of the recent lawsuits in America against Meta, Google, YouTube and TikTok. All these companies are fined millions of dollars for doing harm to children’s health and wellbeing, with a negative impact on worldwide communities. They have even been described as a public nuisance.
It has also been confirmed that these companies designed the internet and social media to distract, interrupt and be addictive, like cocaine drugs. They are only focusing on making money while exploiting children’s vulnerability and data for their benefit. They are definitely not interested in children’s healthy, balanced development and safety,” says Dr Kruger.
Dr Kruger’s own path to this work began after she stepped back from a 25-year career in tertiary education, where she had helped lead the rollout of classroom technology and online learning at a top South African university as well as the use of tablets for students on twelve campuses nationally in a private higher education institution. These experiences prompted her to study the effects of screen time and electromagnetic exposure on children’s development, work that now includes research, coaching, mentoring, speaking, functional health services and product development.
She recently expanded her parent-facing resources with the Happy Neuro Heroes self-paced wellbeing guide and course, paired with the JOY Journal, which is now available in both English and Afrikaans and offers families brain-based, practical tools to rebalance and replace screen habits at home with healthier activities and build real-life relationships with real people in the real world.
Dr Kruger is a multiple international and national award winner, including winning the Woman of Stature Awards (2026) in the Health and Wellness category. She is available for interviews, commentary and speaking engagements on digital-wise parenting, happier and healthier screen time, child development and digital wellbeing.