Swiped - The school that banned mobile phones

I did a parents evening once where a parent sat looking at a phone the whole time I was speaking, I don't think it's just young people who need to think more safely about screen time and relating to others online.

Years ago, when mobile phones were just phones, A couple sat down for a parent teacher meeting, the man's phone rang and he stood up, no apology or excuse me, walked over to the window and had a conversation while I spoke to his wife. When he rejoined us he told me to repeat what I'd told his wife and when I said we didn't have time he became angry, Who the hell did I think I was? etc etc. As I walked through the Hall later he was talking angrily to the Head and I went over. 'I've just been saying how very rude you were when I had to take an very urgent phone call!' I proceeded to tell the Head the tee-off time for next morning and the arrangements for the Golf Club dinner! The Head could hardly keep his face straight and the father stormed off.

Knowing what I know now and seeing how concentration spans have disappeared in my classroom , I wouldn’t let any child of mine have a smart phone until they were 14. Teens have been part of a massive experiment. We are now getting the data on what mobile phones do to developing brains. It’s time to act.

At my school there is an exemption for diabetes. It's pretty simple- different rule if needed

You also have to look at it from the angle of banning them makes them more attractive. The kids with them will have social social status.

how will kids get them if they’re banned and their parents don’t buy them? How do you think? Girls will go out with older men who buy them one, boys will be exploited criminally. There will be a roaring trade in second hand phones.

even now kids who’d parents have “banned” phones, or only allow their kids dumb phones- in 99% of cases that child has a smart phone somewhere. Bought off school mates, or worse off exploitative adults.

my mate is a social worker. Says if a kid goes missing and they aren’t allowed smart phones, they will have a secret second phone. Even if the parents think they don’t have social media, or even better set them up with accounts so they can log in and monitor- those kids aren’t stupid and will have secondary secret accounts. So the parents think they know what their kid is doing online and get a false sense of security.

best option is to educate kids- lessons in schools on internet use. At the very least it might help their critical thinking with

I watched it with my teenagers. I think for the overall message it would be good to watch with a year six child, however there is mention of porn and suicide/children dying so it depends on how mature/able to understand these topics your child is and how comfortable you are with them seeing discussion about it. I recommend watching it yourself first and making an assessment, you may just want to wind through some bits.

I really don't think phones have anything to do with focus and concentration

Your opinion does not align with the scientific research that shows focus and concentration is affected. (As well as plenty of anecdotal evidence, eg the difference noted by teachers).

You could try some of the resources on CEOP. They have different approaches for different age groups.
https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/parents/Listing/?cat=&ref=4765#mMain

I imagine they have to allow it in casess where kids are Diabetic etc as it's a medical device, they wouldn't ban wheel chairs so theu can't ban CGM,s .

They were at secondary school, using public transport.

'allow' smartphones

Just out of interest, how do the schools that.don't allow.smartphones at all.(and I'm not saying that is a bad thing), manage medical.exemptions?

My 3 are all beyond school age now so I'd really like to know how DCs who use phones as medical.devices are accommodated.

I'm just interested in why people just don't give their children dumb phones if they think they need them

I’m guessing you don’t have teenagers as this is a pretty naïve statement. If your child has a dumb phone when all the others have a smartphone then you’re making them a social outcast - I’m sure most of us can remember that one kid at school in the 80s/90s who didn’t have a tv and all the other kids knew and talked about it like it was so weird and alien. It’s the same thing.

We gave our kids (now mid-late teens) smart phones through gritted teeth when they started secondary school. They didn’t get snap/insta until age 15 and they’re still not allowed TikTok. We have tight age restrictions and screen time controls and they don’t have phones in bedrooms at night. So we have done/are doing as much as possible to prevent the dangers, whilst still allowing them to fit in with everyone else for the most part.

Am I favour of a ban on smart phones for under 16s? Absolutely! I’m sad it will be too late for my own children but it’s really not as simple as “why did you give them one then”.
I’m very hopeful that the ban will become a reality as I really worry for the current generation of children whose parents have stuck them in front of a screen from pretty much babyhood - the developmental delays, social skills, mental health issues etc etc are very worrying.

I see loads of socially anxious 18 to 24 year olds at work and a common factor is their heavy online gaming habit and nocturnal lifestyle. This definitely was not a thing pre internet as it wasn't possible. Starting this stuff young seems to lead to unhealthy addictive behavior.

This reminds me of what used to be said about TV when I was a child. We only had three channels. Not only was it not a 24 hour service, but during the hours it was on, there wasn't continuous programming. Gaps were filled by the test card or 'intermission' stills of autumn scenes or flowers with music. Still, there were concerns about the effect watching TV would have on children.

Now, it's not just the phones. It's Nickelodeon on tap at any hour of the day. It's the kids I work with as a TA speaking in American accents because of all the 'educational' YouTube nursery rhymes/counting/alphabet songs they've been watching since babies.

Phones are just the tip of the multimedia iceberg. And to think people were once worried about the impact 3 channels of intermittent TV might have. It's boggling to think about what's changed in such a short period of time. I am only 50.

In matt and Emma’s defence, the settings aren’t always straightforward.
I consider myself pretty tech savvy, I’ve always used Mac/iPhone, and have to use social media/YT etc for work. When I set up DCs iPhones i mirrored the settings but there have always been anomalies where one DC can access apps the other can’t for no obvious reason. Then on the back of watching the Ch4 program I poked around in settings a bit more and there’s definitely something not working with Screen Time
Limits - I can literally go into a page that shows social media limited to an hour but also shows that DS has also been on SnapChat for over an hour🙄

Tbh I've always been surprised any school allows smart phones in it... none of the state ones round here Greater London allow them in side. Kids have to turn them off at the gate and put away properly ( a lot of kids use public transport to school so message parents safe arrival) phones Can be kept in bag but teacher hearing, seeing even the outline of one is an immediate detention. 3 in a row phone confiscated and parents have to come into school to collect.

I think social media should have an age limit and also the operating symptoms need better bars. Parents are often out of their depth with set ups. I work in tech and as soon as I am setting up new privacy and limits on dc it sends me mad. Ds phone is still not as secure as I would like

And what are ‘appropriate’ restrictions. Some parents allow Snapchat and TikTok, others won’t. Would it help parents if the government said that TikTok is addling children’s brains and shouldn’t be allowed in under 16s, for example? I understand that it can be difficult to say no to kids when they’re claiming that all their friends have a particular app or game and they’ll feel left out. And some parents are genuinely naive to the problems that these apps are causing (or maybe so addicted to TikTok themselves that they’re normalising it).

Is it the case that governments are in bed with these massive tech companies that they won’t decry using them, even though they know it’s to our detriment?

I wouldn't give my child an ipad either.

It's no different to giving them an iPad tho all digital devices have the ability to be used on the dark web. It's purely about parent setting appropriate restrictions and maybe a change in attitudes that what happens online isn't real and shouldn't count in real life

My DDs school doesn’t allow smartphones on site. If a student is caught with a smartphone in their bag (even switched off) it’s confiscated until the end of the full school term (Christmas, Easter, Summer).

Kids live in London so have oyster zip cards, they do have email but it’s something they check at home and the vast majority of homework is pen and paper (maths is the exception being online).

I would be writing to the local MP about the bus tickets. Madness that children are expected to have a smartphone to access school bus tickets.
My 11 year old will not be getting a phone any time soon. I've just made it clear that the negatives outweigh the positives and there is absolutely no need.
I'd rather he learn to ask someone if he gets lost, walk home if he can't contact me, problem solve. I really don't see the harm he can come to on his journey home from school, at the same time as all the other school children. And even if there is a risk, it is smaller than the risks of having a smartphone.
He asked me when he can, and I said Year 9. It will still have lots of restrictions then.

I watched it with my secondary school aged DC. It opened a lot of conversation about the use of phones, even the sad parts. I did find it interesting as a teacher that the school allowed smart phones to be used in school- in mine, phones are to be off and any phones seen out are confiscated. We do not allow their use at all.

My children got smart phones in Year 6 but I have Family Link on them which means they are restricted to what they can see, I have blocked TikTok and I control how long they are on them. They certainly can't be on at night as they go off.

Restricted use, yes. Total ban, not realistic.

Children do not need any kind of phone in school and so not need social media. Supervised, time-restricted, age-appropriate internet/app use outside of school can be useful in many ways however the bigger the screen the better (so yes to TV, computer and with caution for phones and tablets).

But are they staying up until 1am every night on their phones? The kids in the programme were.

12 year olds in tears because they can’t get to sleep without their phone!

This is where parents have to step up and parent.

Buy children alarm clocks so at bed time or preferably at least an hour before, the phones are switched off and put in the kitchen or whatever for the night.

Parents can insist on no phones at the dinner table etc.

Parents should check what tick tok / instagram (insert whatever social media) crap their children are using.

The children were getting 300 notifications per day!

Children can use their phones of course they can, but a good parent monitors and helps their child by having rules about use. Parents need to stop being friends with their children and parent them. Nobody is suggesting that is easy, but it is essential.