PM Lawrence Wong at the Launch of the National Family Festival and "Screen Smart From The Start" Campaign

My Cabinet Colleagues
Chairman and Members of the Families for Life Council
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning, happy holidays and happy Vesak Day to all who observe it.

I am very happy to join all of you to kick off this year’s National Family Festival. In fact, I remember joining you two years ago for a similar event. That was my first public occasion after taking over as Prime Minister, and I thought that was a very good signal that the first event I did after taking over as Prime Minister was a family event to signify the importance of families. So I am very happy to be back two years later for a similar event - Family Festival - and to see this grow from strength to strength. And that has been made possible because all of you, our partners, our government agencies, and most of all, our Families for Life volunteers. Thank you very much for making this happen.

Our families are the bedrock of our society. They shape who we are, they teach us to care for one another, and to support our fellow citizens. But we also recognise that around the world, families are under growing pressure. Parents have to juggle work, caregiving, and the demands of daily life. Young couples worry about whether they are ready to raise children. And many families are finding it harder to spend meaningful time together in an increasingly fast-paced and digital world.

That is why we dedicate every month of June to families – to celebrate their importance. To remind ourselves to spend time with our loved ones. As the Chairman reminded us, it is a daily choice and a daily personal commitment we have to make - to remind ourselves that we have to set aside protected time and to acknowledge the many partners who contribute to making Singapore a family-friendly society.

The Government is fully committed to this undertaking, we will continue to support families through every stage of life – including parents of young families and young Singaporeans who would like to start families of their own. We know that Minister Indranee is now leading a work group to look at what more we can do support families and parenthood aspirations. The team has been busy studying what more we can do, for example, in the areas of concerns like cost, care for their children, housing for young couples. So, we will share what further moves we will make when we are ready.

At the same time, as society evolves, new challenges will naturally emerge. One key development is digitalisation, because screens are now all around us, they influence how we interact with one another and how families raise their children.

This can create new opportunities – parents and children now have access to a world of knowledge at their fingertips. But it also gives rise to new challenges. Excessive screen time can affect children’s development. Children may become more socially isolated or grow distant from their families.

I spoke about this at the National Day Rally last year because we recognise this as a growing challenge. In some ways the concerns are familiar across every generation because in the past, parents also worried about different things – comics was a concern, TV was a concern, video games was a concern. So, in some ways it is not very different. Now, it is screentime with your phone or with your device. But in other ways it is different because the challenge has become more intense. The new devices, phones and iPads, and other devices comes with content that can be potentially, potentially – not all of it is bad, but potentially more harmful, with programmes, social media that has addictive features and also potentially online interactions that can be toxic and dangerous.

Countries everywhere are grappling with these challenges. It is not just in Singapore. Families everywhere around the world are grappling with similar challenges.

That is why Governments in certain countries have taken some steps to tighten access to social media. In Singapore, we will do our part too, we have already removed the use of smartphones during school hours. We have plans to further tighten safeguards around access to social media – for children and teens – and we will share these plans when we are ready.

At the same time, parents have a role to play. In fact, many parents tell us they want to do more, but do not know where to start. That is why today, we are riding on this family festival to launch a new national initiative, a screen smart initiative, to empower parents to better support their children’s digital journey.

We want to provide parents with more resources to foster healthy digital habits from a young age, and we want to make this practical and actionable for parents. For example, for parents with infants and babies under 18 months, the guidelines are very clear – zero screen time. That is quite straightforward, and we hope every young parent will do just that - zero screen time for infants and babies under 18 months. As the child gets older, naturally they will be curious about devices. But then parents should limit usage, if you were to give them something to see on screen. Watch together with them; talk to them about what they are seeing, and connect it to the world around them. So, the device is not just given to the child, and the child is using the device on his or her own, but it is done as part of the interaction together with the parent. And you should start healthy digital habits from young. You have protected family time. But during protected family time, please do not use phones. Because if there is family time, for example meal time, which is typically how all of us connect during as family time, it is meal time. But if family time becomes phone time, then it is not really family time. So, no phones during family time. No phones during family meals. Preferably, if the child is young, no phones in the bedroom – because you have no control over what the child is doing at night. They may very well be on the phone throughout the whole night, and you have absolutely no control. Also, hold back from giving them smart phones for as long as possible. If you have to give them a phone for communication, start with a phone without internet access. These days, they are available because there is demand for it. Some years back, people said well, I want to buy a so-called “dumb phone” – that is what they call it, no internet access but it is no longer available. That is no longer the case, it is readily available. So, start with that before giving them a smart phone.

Now, with these strong foundations, hopefully it becomes easier to manage screen time when children get older. Of course, eventually they will have their own phones. They will eventually have their own smart phones. But we want to instil in them the confidence and values to navigate the online world responsibly and safely.

Safeguards over screen time must go hand in hand with spending quality time together as a family. You cannot just curb the use of devices and then leave a vacuum. As we limit screen time, we also need to have more time together as a family. And so, we will continue to encourage more family-friendly spaces in Singapore – be it in our parks, our museums, or libraries. And we will make it easier for families to discover activities that appeal to them, and to spend more meaningful time together.

Many parents also tell us – that these are things that they understand, very sensible guidelines. They would like to do that but sometimes they feel a little bit of pressure. If I do it but my child’s friends, their parents do not do it, then I will stand out and I will be under pressure from my child. For example, if every other child in class has a smart phone and my child does not have a smart phone, my child will stand out and I will be under pressure. So, there is that issue that many parents face. They want to do the right thing, but they fear and they worry that this is not happening around them and they come under peer pressure.

That is why we are starting this as a national movement. We cannot do it through the Government alone, but we must together, collectively as a society, create new social norms for the digital age. And it must start with all of us, working closely with parents, schools and community groups so that together, we can build healthier habits from young.

This Families for Life Movement is what this is about. You exemplify this spirit of building culture from the ground-up. You are building a family culture from the ground-up. You are a ground-up movement, led by volunteers. You give your time, you rally support, and you build partnerships across government, community and corporate sectors to achieve scale and impact. And in doing so, you show how the wider community can help strengthen families. So just as we are doing, to build a ground-up family culture, we can do the same to build a ground-up screen smart culture from the very start.

So, I thank the Families for Life Council. I thank our partners, our volunteers and all of you for your dedication and hard work once again.

Let us together continue to look out for one another, to strengthen the bonds with our families and communities, and to make Singapore a place where every family, in every stage of life, feels supported, encouraged, and able to flourish together. Thank you and enjoy the festival everyone!