The U.K. Government Wouldn’t Ban Phones in Schools. These Parents Stepped Up.

The idea of getting her eldest child a smartphone had long felt inevitable, said Daisy Greenwell. But by early last year, when her daughter was 8 years old, it filled her with dread. When she talked to other parents, “everyone universally said, ‘Yes, it’s a nightmare, but you’ve got no choice,’” recalled Ms. Greenwell, 41.She decided to test that. A friend, Clare Fernyhough, had shared her concerns about the…