More than 2,500 parents across east London and Essex have signed a pact to give their children a "smartphone free childhood".

A total of 2,515 parents with children at 407 schools across east London and Essex have promised to wait until their child is at least 14 before getting them a smartphone.

This pact - started by the Smartphone Free Childhood movement - aims to pressure the government into taking "urgent action" to protect children from the harms of smartphones and social media.

The community of parents also hope to "shift the social norms" around smartphone use, so that this is "the last generation whose childhoods are lived through a smartphone".

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On its website, Smartphone Free Childhood said: "The tidal wave of support we've received from parents from every walk of life has only strengthened our conviction that childhood and smartphones simply shouldn't mix.

"We're now more determined than ever not only to provide solidarity and support for parents navigating these stormy seas, but to use the voice of our community to push for far tougher regulation on tech companies - and solve this problem for good."

Almost 1,400 children, from 161 different schools in east London, will not get a phone until they are at least 14 if their parents stick to the pact.

The east London school with the highest amount of signatures from parents is Handsworth Primary School, in Waltham Forest, with 75 parents signing the pledge.

Other east London schools with parents who have signed the pact so far include Redbridge Primary School, Barking Abbey School and Upminster Junior School.

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In Essex, 1,140 children's parents have pledged to not give them a smartphone until they are 14, across 246 schools.

This includes 25 children from St Joseph the Worker Catholic Primary School, in Hutton.

Across both east London and Essex, more than 20 parents have signed the pact whose children are not yet at school.

Nationally, more than 57,700 parents - with children at 8,358 schools - have signed the Smartphone Free Childhood pact.