To think parents are not teaching any independence?

Child statistics then: Ofcom estimate that between 1.14m and 1.78m children in total in the UK have no home access to a laptop, desktop or tablet, meaning that the scheme only targeted between roughly a third and a half of children who definitely needed one. The scheme provided laptops to 7 in 10 disadvantaged year 10s.

https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/blog/children-without-internet-access-during-lockdown/

that isn't a small number.

And parents can still give their children dum phones for this purpose. It's smart phones that are being banned.

A lot of these scenarios could be solved with a brick phone and an AirTag or similar, with the exception of SEN needs and digital travel cards. At one of our local secondary schools, only 5 kids in one of the new Yr7 class intake had a smartphone, the rest had brick phones or equivalent, and physical cards for public transport.

I think so many parents don’t seem to understand what parenting is. They seem to see their kids as some kind of status symbol - to dress up and create a social life for their parents, a tick box on must does in life.

As long as there are no issues, the sole job a parent has to do is bring up a child, so by adulthood 16-18 they can operate as an independent person, useful to humanity, adding to society.

By the time they reach teenage years they should be confident enough to catch public transport (knowing what to do if things don’t go quite right) navigate round towns, swim to a good standard, choose a place to eat and order food. Know how to navigate through an airport, understand how to navigate and do things in a foreign country esp understanding the differences with the UK. Navigate the London Underground, Be able to plan a meal and cook it independently, buy food independently. Know what is a healthy food choice and the importance of exercise. know how to call the emergency services and administer simple first aid. They should be able to hold conversations with a variety of age groups, converse with teachers independently asking for help and identifying learning needs. Be able to look after a pet independently day to day. Understand money, make independent good choices about spending and saving. From there on in you should be fine tuning over the next few years.

I know a couple of helicopter parents

And it shows.

It also looks much less fun, there are no stories, no news from your kids. The teenagers are still hardwork in that they expect mum to make sure everything is ok.

Yeah this is the same with my DD’s school. She already has to run to get the school bus because teachers often let them out late, so there would be no time to fetch a phone. If she misses that bus, there isn’t another one and she’d have to wait at school for 1.5 hours until I finish work to fetch her. She’s then on the bus for over an hour, in which time she likes to get her homework done which is set on Teams.

And the statistics I gave you were from the UK.

Yep agree

(Mine is at high school)

There's no good reason why we shouldn't have the choice of having our children have phone to and from school nowadays if we want them to.

And the phone I choose. My child's phone is a smart phone but has no social media or wotsapp or internet so I don't agree that I should be changing her phone either.

No problem with them forbidding phones in school.

They are not mutually exclusive in my eyes. Asking for help, who to ask for help, how to ask , where to go (and alternatives) are also part of the plan.

We used phone boxes in my day. Always had a BT phone card with us.

Schools need to allow brick phones and the bus companies are going to have to let kids have paper bus passes again.

Well we’re in the UK and we’re talking about the UK.

6% of the population is a very small proportion, and mostly affects older people.

6% is not at small portion at all. I couldn't be bothered finding out how many that is but I have worked with these communities. Generally they have phones but they and their children only have computers if they are given them by government programs (which are often short term). Again, I didn't work in the UK, but it happens there too.

That’s all very well if you live close to school and walk, as I did back in the 1970s. My children had a 15 mile journey to school that involved taking two trains. I wouldn’t have wanted them not to have a phone.

The difference was that in those days the phones weren’t smart. All they could be used for was making calls and sending texts.

Yes so 6% is indeed a very small proportion, like I said.

And of that 6%, older people are disproportionately affected - they’re not doing homework for school.

This argument always annoys me. All the homework they get give can be done on any electronic device. Laptop/desktop and tablet no phones are not actually needed.

Also I think parents are letting children down if they don't have at lest one of these at home as kids maybe able to use a smartphone but the number of students who can't use a actual computer by the time they come to high school is amazing. You still need to be able to use at lest a laptop for a lot of jobs. Most are cheaper then phones to.

Nice not to be aware of that. I know how privileged my family is in that regard.

Not in my town. I work in communities where there is a huge problem with digital inequality.

Many of these children stay at school to do homework club as they have no access to a laptop at home.

If a family has multiple children it becomes very difficult.

And plenty don’t. It became obvious during Covid how much tech (including printers) schools/society expected households to have. DD spent a week doing online classes 6 hours a day, in y4!! At least we did have the device(s) - I also needed one as I did some work from home - and only one kid.

The problem with lock boxes at DD's old school is that there is only 10 minutes between the end of the school day and when all the school buses leave. There simply wouldn't be time to go and pick up a phone and catch the bus.

As it is a school in a rural market town these pupils need to catch that school bus because public transport to some of the outlying villages in non existent.

I feel that many posters on this thread live in towns and cities where public transport is plentiful.

This is a 'check your privilege' situation. Digital inequality is a huge concern in some areas.

6% of households still did not have access to the internet in March 2021 according to Lloyds Bank UK Consumer Digital Index 2021. That's a lot of people. (Homework usually requires internet).

1.6 million households. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-inclusion-action-plan-one-year-on/digital-inclusion-action-plan-one-year-on

The vast majority do, actually.

SOME. A tiny fraction actually. Most households have a device bigger than a phone that a child could use for homework.

I feel the phone discussion has got a bit silly. Contact with your family, maps, bus timetables and passes, music, camera, podcasts etc. are all really useful things for all of us to have in our pocket. I want my child to know how to use phone well. If government/school don’t want them during the day then they have to manage that (phone pouch etc.) but I want my child to have one to and from school. Only primary right now but secondary is likely a long bike ride across the city.