Page 7 | To think all schools should ban the use of smartphones entirely during school day?

90sseemedsomucheasier · 2025-03-20T12:52:34+00:00

I would welcome a ban on smartphones in my child’s secondary school. At present, in my child’s school they are allowed to take them in, but the rule is that they are to be kept at in their bags and not be seen at all. I think they get a couple of behaviour points if seen, and if seen for a third time then it is confiscated. I know that, had smartphones existed when I was in school, I would have been a master a checking it without getting caught. I would have been on social media, messaging my friends, secretly listening to music with one AirPod under my hair, looking up answers to questions I didn’t know. I’d have never got in trouble because I would have been stealth like in my use of it. But it would have distracted me, it would have called out to me all day. I’d be waiting for my next check of it and thinking about it. I would therefore not have worked as hard, or chatted to friends as much. It would have fed me a horrible narrative about what I should look like, what my life should be like, how everyone appeared better than me and I’d be full of anxiety and not feel good enough. This is what is happening to our children today. They don’t have the strength to stay away from them - they may not be seen doing it but they are constantly on them. Even the best behaved kids. Even if teachers do notice a child having a quick look at their phone, they’ve got so much other stuff to do with the demands of their job - are they going to challenge the child and make more work for themselves or are they going to pretend they haven’t seen it. Children take secret photos and videos and send them to one another to ridicule and bully. Inappropriate contest is airdropped and shared via WhatsApp groups. As a parent, I am on it with internet safety (as is dh). We use parental control tools and my year 7 child is not allowed social media,free access to the internet and we monitor their use of their phone each evening. There are screen time limits and phone switches of at 7pm and is not allowed in bedroom. I often feel like we are going against the grain in doing this. I feel alone and like other parents don’t see the issue with handing our children a device where they can access ANYTHING and absolutely will access anything because they are naturally curious. Curiosity is normal, but the level of information, the horrors, the ideologies and the algorithms that form as a result are not. They are extremely damaging. I know, when I look online (I know, the irony) that there are other parents that feel the same way. But it is hard in real life. When you’re child goes to secondary school and makes new friends who went to a different primary you have no idea what their parents, and their parenting choices, are like. Whilst I know my child is safe online in my home, I don’t know when I send them out to school. They can be exposed to all sorts of horrors / porn / ideologies because other parents send their child to school with unrestricted smartphones, whether that is because they don’t understand the dangers, or simply do not care. do any other parents agree with me that schools should be made to ban smartphones entirely? And by ban I mean asking students to hand them in - either a locker or a faraday pouch on arrival. I get that they are a part of life and needed for safety on journey to and from school (although I would argue that for many they don’t actually even need it for that!). But during school hours they simply do not need them and should not have access to them. This has been rolled out in some schools already and the benefits are already being seen. I would welcome it in a heartbeat if my child’s school did this!! What do you think? Would really love to hear people’s opinions - YABU - children should be allowed access to their phones throughout the school day YANBU - all schools should ban smartphone access on school sites entirely by asking students to leave them at home, place them in a phone locker or in a faraday pouch

NeverDropYourMooncup · 20/03/2025 19:18

brunettemic · 20/03/2025 19:15

I stopped reading after you got on your high horse and then your 7 year old has a phone.

I think you stopped before then - the OP's child is Year 7.

ShockedandStunnedRepeatedly · 20/03/2025 19:18

YouveGotAFastCar · 20/03/2025 13:00

do any other parents agree with me that schools should be made to ban smartphones entirely?

What about people who use them for insulin monitoring, just as one example? The phone has to be close enough to the monitor to control the insulin.

There's a LOT more to it than what you've said.

I am horrified by the lack of attention that some parents pay to what children are up to online; and I'm not surprised that we're seeing the consequences of that now, but I'm also not convinced that removing phones during the school day will make that much of a difference if most kids have unsupervised access to them the rest of the time...

Your point is valid BUT If they were banned as they ought to be, then a separate device could and should be invented to monitor glucose. No need for it to be on the smartphone . We need to wake up and address this addiction that we have sleepwalked into.

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 20/03/2025 19:17

Agree. A lot of parents won't like it though.

brunettemic · 20/03/2025 19:15

I stopped reading after you got on your high horse and then your 7 year old has a phone.

Hoppinggreen · 20/03/2025 19:14

My DS has to lock his securely in a box in his form room each morning in registration and collect it at the end of the day. Caught once and it goes to the office for the day, caught twice and it goes to the office and a parent has to collect (and get a lecture)
If DS needs to speak to me he goes to the office and they let him call using their phone
I support it fully

NeverDropYourMooncup · 20/03/2025 19:14

YouveGotAFastCar · 20/03/2025 13:00

do any other parents agree with me that schools should be made to ban smartphones entirely?

What about people who use them for insulin monitoring, just as one example? The phone has to be close enough to the monitor to control the insulin.

There's a LOT more to it than what you've said.

I am horrified by the lack of attention that some parents pay to what children are up to online; and I'm not surprised that we're seeing the consequences of that now, but I'm also not convinced that removing phones during the school day will make that much of a difference if most kids have unsupervised access to them the rest of the time...

What makes you think that a medical device - which is what the CGM connection is - wouldn't be exempt for the roughly 3-4 out of 1500 that have T1?

The only concerns would be the cost of the storage and somewhere to keep them - for 800 students, one box per form, you're looking at a stack of storage boxes roughly the size of an AGA.

That reduces the phone related workload down to 5-10 who handed in a burner, plus your diabetics and the occasional person whose hearing aid connects to theirs, who aren't an issue. Oh, and all the nonsense they get up to outside the school gates. At least there's next to nothing inside them as a result.

Simonjt · 20/03/2025 19:12

Forcing someone to manage their disablity in a different way is discrimination.

Our son needs his smartphone for his hearing aids, can you find me another device that is cellular, has bluetooth, is small enough to go in a school trousers pocket, battery will last the school day and can be fully intergrated with his hearing aids.

LlynTegid · 20/03/2025 19:11

I would welcome a ban.

It needs to be alongside sanctions for parents who then go and hassle teachers or worse because they believe their child should be an exception.

OldTiredMum1976 · 20/03/2025 19:08

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 20/03/2025 18:41

Exactly. A lot of parents seem to be very naïve about the lengths that phone-addicted teens will go to in order to use their phones in school. I mean... vapes aren't allowed in school either. Does that stop kids from vaping in school? Nope.

In schools where they collect in the phones at the beginning of the day, what's to stop kids from saying they don't have their phone with them? Or handing in an old phone and keeping their actual one in their bag?

In schools where phones have to be switched off and kept in bags, they aren't. They're on silent. They get taken to the toilet (in fact they, along with vaping, are almost certainly the main reason for the totally excessive number of lesson-time toilet trips).

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Ok then so because some kids sneak vaoes into school or penknives or drugs then let’s not have any rules about them at all! Let’s just have a free for all. What a ridiculous argument.

if phones were locked away all day, I could deal with the few still floating about. These children could be sanctioned and banned from having a phone on site at all. At least let’s try to improve the situation as, let me tell you, most parents are living in cloud cuckoo land about what their child’s school day is like.

Eyerollexpert · 20/03/2025 19:03

TheSippyCupSociety · 20/03/2025 15:19

I absolutely would not trust my sons school with his phone

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Then he would not be able to take it to school. Easy.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 20/03/2025 18:41

Bringmeahigherlove · 20/03/2025 14:03

This already exists in most schools. They’re expected to be away in their bags and switched off. Do we think they’re not texting or videoing in toilets? Not recording students and teachers in lessons when no one is watching? Not taking pictures in the corridors or checking social media? Of course they are! They’re addicted to them. It isn’t that students are allowed on their phones in our secondary schools it’s the policing of them is absolutely impossible. Parents contribute massively to the issue.

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Exactly. A lot of parents seem to be very naïve about the lengths that phone-addicted teens will go to in order to use their phones in school. I mean... vapes aren't allowed in school either. Does that stop kids from vaping in school? Nope.

In schools where they collect in the phones at the beginning of the day, what's to stop kids from saying they don't have their phone with them? Or handing in an old phone and keeping their actual one in their bag?

In schools where phones have to be switched off and kept in bags, they aren't. They're on silent. They get taken to the toilet (in fact they, along with vaping, are almost certainly the main reason for the totally excessive number of lesson-time toilet trips).

ScrollingLeaves · 20/03/2025 18:37

neverbeenskiing · 20/03/2025 15:41

They trialled this at a school where I worked. There were definitely some positives but it also caused a lot of problems.

Kids refusing to hand phones in- this is to be expected of course, but what we weren't anticipating was the number of parents who kicked off when their child was given a sanction for refusing.

Kids would say they hadn't go their phone on them, that they'd left them at home. Then they'd skip lessons to sit in the toilets going on their phones. Again, this was expected but parents weren't always supportive of consequences being put in place and it took a lot of staff time to deal with it.

We were told by parents that we were "violating their child's human rights" by not allowing phones and a couple even refused to send their kids into school.

We agreed medical exemption for the small number of children who use their phone as a medical device. Cue an influx of children who apparently needed their phone on them all day "for their Mental Health", including children who we had never been informed had any Mental health concerns previously. We were accused of causing or worsening anxiety, traumatising children and taking their only coping strategy away from them.

One Dad threatened to call the Police as in his opinion we had "committed theft". Another parent accused us of only coming up with the policy :so teachers could snoop through kids phones"...because their child is so fascinating obviously.

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This is why having it as law would help.

Original poster

90sseemedsomucheasier · 20/03/2025 18:28

JaceLancs · 20/03/2025 18:20

OP why do you say they are needed on the journey to and from school? What did you do at that age?
My adult DC are in their 30s and got Nokia bricks when they were towards end of high school none of them or their friends were allowed phones in school or on school buses etc
My generation managed without communicating with our parents between leaving home around 8am and returning at 4.30, both my parents were at work anyway
Thankfully if I hadn’t have arrived at school or some incident occurred during the day - the school would contact either of my parents on a work landline or any other local relatives whose contact details had been given
We didn’t have a landline at home until I was 14/15 even

I get that they are a part of life and needed for safety on journey to and from school (although I would argue that for many they don’t actually even need it for that!).

That is what I said about that. So as you can probably tell, you don’t need to convince me much about that.

However, I appreciate that this is where phones are useful and we can ensure safety of our children in a way that couldn’t be done when we were children. If children are travelling a long way to school, getting public transport etc I think most parents will want their child to have a phone. It really doesn’t need to be a smart phone though! At all.

In my dream world, smart phones would be banned for children and they could all have a Nokia brick. That way, it is a useful tool and not a danger or distraction (well, apart from the odd bit of snake).

medical / travel etc infrastructure would be designed in a way that they didn’t have to rely on a smart phone.

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ScrollingLeaves · 20/03/2025 18:22

twistyizzy · 20/03/2025 12:56

Labour just voted against banning smartphones and without that it is up to individual schools. Lobby your school governors to bring it in.

I wrote to my MP.

JaceLancs · 20/03/2025 18:20

OP why do you say they are needed on the journey to and from school? What did you do at that age?
My adult DC are in their 30s and got Nokia bricks when they were towards end of high school none of them or their friends were allowed phones in school or on school buses etc
My generation managed without communicating with our parents between leaving home around 8am and returning at 4.30, both my parents were at work anyway
Thankfully if I hadn’t have arrived at school or some incident occurred during the day - the school would contact either of my parents on a work landline or any other local relatives whose contact details had been given
We didn’t have a landline at home until I was 14/15 even

Original poster

90sseemedsomucheasier · 20/03/2025 18:10

Pippa12 · 20/03/2025 17:52

I really hand on heart, hope you aren’t aggressive, despite the trials and tribulations of a classroom.

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I think they’re talking about the language being used in their posts rather than being aggressive to students (in response to what a previous poster said.)

I don’t blame them either as it is such a fucked up, dire situation

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Ddakji · 20/03/2025 18:08

I really hope @Pippa12, hand on heart- that you can tell the difference between offline and online - but I’m not holding out much hope.

@OldTiredMum1976 that sounds like hell. And people wonder why parents who can remove their children from these places.

Original poster

90sseemedsomucheasier · 20/03/2025 18:07

Ossoduro2 · 20/03/2025 17:45

I’m lucky that my child goes to a school where they remove the phones at the beginning of the day and give them back at the end (so they have them in case of emergency on the way to and from school).

i also have his phone set up so that it switches to ‘downtime’ from 8pm. From that point it is totally shut down other than two functions, messaging and calling me or my husband and audio books. Surely you could do something similar on your child’a phone during school hours so that it is on downtime but they can reach you in an emergency?

broadly though, I agree - they should be banned in school and social media should be banned until 16, with proper checks on account creation to verify the person’s age.

My child’s phone is not the issue at all. Life would be very simple if that was the case. It is essentially a dumb phone.

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Pippa12 · 20/03/2025 17:52

OldTiredMum1976 · 20/03/2025 17:30

If you’d spent the last 3 days in schools trying to prepare children for their GCSE maths exams in the conditions I am working in then you would be aggressive.

In just 3 days I’ve dealt with porn on a phone, bullying over WhatsApp across the classroom, watching YouTube, listening to music with headphones, videoing other people in the class and taking photos of a girl whose button on her blouse had come undone - all in GCSE maths classes. Meanwhile, I have children crying in the class because they know they are going to fail because 1) they haven’t had a proper maths teacher at all since year 7, 2) every lesson is disrupted mainly with phones. I’ve been parachuted in to try and salvage the situation.

So yes, I will call parents who don’t want schools to make changes numpties…because they are! And selfish - they can’t see the bigger picture. I spend all week being polite and professional to these idiots at schools - I won’t on here.

I am being charged a lot of money in VAT for sending my children to a private school so that they can avoid this chaos…the least the government could do would be to spend a bit of it solving this phone problem in state schools…but they won’t. Not a penny will go to state schools because the schools they send their children to are private if not in name - children selected on the cost of their house. They don’t have these problems.

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I really hand on heart, hope you aren’t aggressive, despite the trials and tribulations of a classroom.

Original poster

90sseemedsomucheasier · 20/03/2025 17:46

No I don’t but I do know that technology can be created without having to have an entire mobile phone attached to it. However - I fully appreciate that this isn’t the case at the moment and is a whole other thread.

it goes to say that anyone who needs their phone for medical devices should absolutely keep them with them. They NEED them. Anyone else does not.

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Ossoduro2 · 20/03/2025 17:45

I’m lucky that my child goes to a school where they remove the phones at the beginning of the day and give them back at the end (so they have them in case of emergency on the way to and from school).

i also have his phone set up so that it switches to ‘downtime’ from 8pm. From that point it is totally shut down other than two functions, messaging and calling me or my husband and audio books. Surely you could do something similar on your child’a phone during school hours so that it is on downtime but they can reach you in an emergency?

broadly though, I agree - they should be banned in school and social media should be banned until 16, with proper checks on account creation to verify the person’s age.

Pickledpoppetpickle · 20/03/2025 17:37

Pimps?! Pumps!!!!!

Pickledpoppetpickle · 20/03/2025 17:37

90sseemedsomucheasier · 20/03/2025 13:13

The technology is there to monitor medical devices without a smartphone. Another example where we need to do better for our children

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You don't know much about how pimpscand cgms work, do you? We have both a phone and a pdm (looks like a phone) and they are an essential part of type 1 management. They will not be removed from type 1 children whatever a school decides to do.

OldTiredMum1976 · 20/03/2025 17:30

Pippa12 · 20/03/2025 15:40

@OldTiredMum1976 its a shame your posts are so angry and offensive resulting in name calling (ie. Parents being Numpty’s etc). I actually think you make some good points, but you lose moral high ground with your aggressive writing.

Im sure you teach your pupils to debate without resorting to derogatory terms when people’s opinions differ. Perhaps you should try it.

If you’d spent the last 3 days in schools trying to prepare children for their GCSE maths exams in the conditions I am working in then you would be aggressive.

In just 3 days I’ve dealt with porn on a phone, bullying over WhatsApp across the classroom, watching YouTube, listening to music with headphones, videoing other people in the class and taking photos of a girl whose button on her blouse had come undone - all in GCSE maths classes. Meanwhile, I have children crying in the class because they know they are going to fail because 1) they haven’t had a proper maths teacher at all since year 7, 2) every lesson is disrupted mainly with phones. I’ve been parachuted in to try and salvage the situation.

So yes, I will call parents who don’t want schools to make changes numpties…because they are! And selfish - they can’t see the bigger picture. I spend all week being polite and professional to these idiots at schools - I won’t on here.

I am being charged a lot of money in VAT for sending my children to a private school so that they can avoid this chaos…the least the government could do would be to spend a bit of it solving this phone problem in state schools…but they won’t. Not a penny will go to state schools because the schools they send their children to are private if not in name - children selected on the cost of their house. They don’t have these problems.

SweetPotatoWedges · 20/03/2025 16:08

My DC’s school is using Yondr pouches from Easter and DC will be taking the pouches to and from home with them and putting phones in on entry to school, then tapping them to unlock at home time. They will be responsible for the pouches.

I imagine some DC will try and get around it by denying they have brought a phone with them or putting an old phone in the pouch if they’re checked but I still think this is better, as they keep their phones with them but locked up, than banning phones from school completely, locking them all up in an office which must take up a lot time and space (and potential claims for damage or loss) or expecting kids to be trusted not look at them during the day.

I do think schools who haven’t got the funds to implement pouches (about £25 per pouch probably discounted for buying hundreds at a time though), should ask parents to contribute as it will benefit their DC’s education and social interactions, and they are supplying the offending phones.

My DC has a medical condition he needs his phone for so is exempt but I wouldn’t have minded contributing to a pouch if he wasn’t.