Are there any parents out there who support smartphones in schools?

Phones at school should be off for lessons.
It makes little sense to me the obsession with the impact of smartphones but not smart tvs/tablets/gaming.

My DD school uses ipads - kids are taking photos and videos of each other for bullying/messing about, kids work out how to access WiFi and watch shows during class I hear.
Phones are not the only issue and can be used perfectly sensibly just like other devices.... behaviour however is a real problem in schools.

I am not anti smart phone. I think children should be allowed them to and from school and keep them in their bag or locker during school and not be allowed to use them during the school day unless emergency.

I have no problem with smart phone use by kids outside the school day. I am aware of the risks and dangers but feel we should be educating our children towards smart and safe use of smart phones rather than just banning.

I find the 'smart phone free childhood' brigade that stand outside my son's primary school very annoying and judgemental.

Both my DC have learnt a lot since having their smart phones. They go out and about with friends in the village and contact us on their phones. They use them for photography projects, video editing, photo editing, game development, animation, and keeping in touch with friends.

I don't blame the phones for anything, children need to learn responsible use.

I would be very pro- schools giving regular smart phone education lessons, including regular lessons and debate around safe use of various apps (such as WhatsApp), editing technology etc..

Totally agree with this. I am a secondary teacher and the majority of parents have no idea what their teens are up to on their phones. So much time is spent dealing with SM issues that have happened outside of school. If you are confident your child has never been involved in or witnessed anything unpleasant on their phone, great. But ime this is not the majority experience.

Thanks for sharing your perspective as a teacher.

The thing is that many children are sensible with their phone usage but with the likes of WhatsApp, one person can find a pornographic/violent/whatever video and share it with an entire year group within seconds, exposing it to kids who didn't go looking for it.

I don't agree with banning them but I don't think they should be allowed in classrooms (e.g. should be able to leave in lockers/bags on silent).
Part of the problem with banning them is the travel aspect. Both my kids use public transport (i.e. general bus not a dedicated school bus) to get to and from school. Payment is by scanning a QR code on an app. They use their phones to check live service information, choose a different route if needed and/or message to say they need picking up from a different village/town. It's not really feasible for them to manage their journey without a phone. Unfortunately the bus services are very unreliable.

Don't you think this is problematic though? She only feels secure and connected when she's with her phone? That's actually the whole problem. Because she's reliant on her phone to feel good as it's much easier... much harder to reach out and make friends with other people that she's physically with... without the phone she'd be forced to move outside her comfort zone, make friends, or even learn how to be with people who are not her friends and cope with uncomfortable situations. Then she'd grow in confidence in being on her own in unfamiliar situations. The phone is mollycoddling her. The phone is a shield between her and the world.
It's no wonder kids struggle these days.
We all need discomfort to grow up and separate from our parents.

I'm happy with them being in schools as long as they are away in lessons. My DD15 has ADHD and anxiety and is only back in school full time now as of recently. Texting me when she's having a panic, is one of the only things that keeps her there tbh.

That sums it up, the current problem. I think many are naive about the risks online and think that somehow their kids are not being shaped and influenced daily by their online lives. Yet find the idea of not being able to contact their kids or vice versa when in school, or to know their whereabouts at all times, risky. It's all the wrong way round.

I like the phrase - ‘children are over protected in the real world and under protected online’.

I fully support a ban in schools I think we’ve all lost the plot giving our children smartphones (I include myself). All the silly arguments ‘oh they need them on the way home’ No they don’t. We don’t live in a war zone. We all managed perfectly well without phones. They are probably more likely to get run over as they are staring at the phone. Or get mugged for their phone.

I’m really surprised at some of the parents on here. I guess that’s the problem- people are fighting for the phones.

I bloody hate the things. I think we’ll see the damage we’ve done in future years and we’ll all wonder what the hell we were thinking.

I’d fully support an outright ban on smartphones for under 16s. That won’t happen so hopefully a ban on social media.

It's like saying "my child got flashed at, but it's OK she could just not look"

It really is.
Your kids are in greater danger online that in the streets and you're just like "Oh I love to scroll and my kiddo can delete a dick pick what's the problem"

Totally agree with this. I am a secondary teacher and the majority of parents have no idea what their teens are up to on their phones. So much time is spent dealing with SM issues that have happened outside of school. If you are confident your child has never been involved in or witnessed anything unpleasant on their phone, great. But ime this is not the majority experience.

They're very smart yes. But they're not working for your comfort and your wellbeing, they're working to make money.
There's no ethos in these businesses. What they want is your time, your brain, and your wallet.
There are plenty of design courses and books that are aimed at training designers / developpers to hook users onto their apps. They use the same technics as the gambling industry.

They don't even hide it. Netflix' CEO famously said something along the lines of "Our biggest competitor is sleep".

Yeah no way should they be allowed in class. My son does have a smart watch which allows him to receive messages, so I can let him know that we're unable to pick him up or that he forgot his trainers and they're in reception. But he doesn't need to talk to his friends on his phone in class.

My DD probably would given the chance, she's not allowed to and quite right too. But she wouldn't trade in person interaction for Snapchat, she video calls her friends at home so is having a more live experience than messaging.

No I'm just saying there are positives and negatives. Risk is quite a strong word. I mean, the main thing is we don't KNOW what it's doing to our brains so we have to be careful using strong language like dangerous and risk

If you spent some time looking into the many resources linked on this thread then you'd understand about the risks and the argument for a child feeling "socially connected" is a weak one.

I'm only 38 and some of my peers at school managed a 30 minute train journey to school without any phone at all from the age of 11.

As a society we are way too overprotective of children in the real world and not enough in the virtual world. We will look back and be horrified about what our children were exposed to. A poster being blase about a child receiving a dick pic is just proving the point that this kind of shit is normalised.

I think the question is for the general students welfare, there'll always be a reason why a sen student needs one. Even though they used to manage without.

O/T but that's not AT ALL how breastfeeding works.

Of course I do. Which is not good for my work. Which is not good for your daughter’s school work and she is a CHILD.

Is op aware that such things as nuclear bombs and cigarettes 'have been allowed'

I am relieved my daughter has her phone with her. I know where she is and she can contact me whenever she wants to. I think we'd struggle to keep her in full time education without this lifeline. She has anxiety and is on the spectrum

But if she doesn’t get to talk to her friend in class during one period then it’s fine. And if she’s on the phone during class then it’s not that she’s chatting to her friends it’s the fact that she’s potentially doing other things on the same device that is the issue.

Also plenty of research on screen time and cognitive development. This is not a new area of study. Of course there is a risk. There is not just a developmental risk but there is also the risk of what they are being exposed to. TikTok is a cesspit.

And she’s doing really well at school doesn’t mean she isn’t addicted to her phone and it won’t have consequences later. It’s fine to say ‘I find it hard to police her use and it’s a fight not worth having.’ Don’t dress it up as ‘using the phone in class is really good for my brilliant child.’

How can you be so blasé about this? Dreadful

I certainly wasn't encouraged to talk to my friends during class and I definitely wasn't given a device, by an adult, that encouraged me and allowed me to talk to friends in class.
There's a big difference between having a little whisper with the girl next to me and typing into a smartphone and waiting for a reply while I am in a lesson, and my mu telling me this is perfectly acceptable.

Maybe your daughter would benefit from being taught to value her education a little, and to have respect for the person teaching her, and that there is a world outside her phone.