No phone for secondary school

[StillCreatingAName]

AIBU? I feel like I might be missing something obvious on this one, but honestly why do children need to take a smartphone to school? It’s baffling me as to why there appears to be parents on auto pilot buying their children smartphones (£££) now in year 6, ready for year 7 as though it’s part of a uniform policy (and then sharing their purchase on the class WhatsApp, give me strength).

Is this all just a fallout from lockdown times, people were sort of forced into screen life, so now there’s more children at secondary school with them, who may not have ordinarily had a phone until older?
I’m expecting dc to walk home with friends talking and socialising without the inclusion of a screen or mindlessly scrolling social media instead of listening to friends. I can see where a basic phone might be needed to contact home, but that doesn’t mean the phone should be out of school bag anytime during school hours should it, but maybe I’m just being naive, time will tell 🤷‍♀️?

AIBU to say children don’t need to get a £££ phone for starting secondary school? (It goes without saying they don’t need it at all for primary school, IMHO)?

The number of kids I see staring at their phones and paying no attention to traffic when they are walking home from school is terryifing. They just have no awareness of their surroundings and walk across the roads without looking up once.

I agree with you.

I agree with you, OP, and my Dd will not be getting a smartphone until later into secondary. Lots of other parents at our primary agree too.

My kids homework and timetables are all on an app.

They're not allowed to have phones out at school, but it's needed for other purposes

You don't have to spend shedloads on a first phone though do you? We got ours a cheap smart phone, she's happy with it. Gets her ready for secondary, used to a phone etc, but it's cheap. She face times friends from time to time.

They don’t need a smart phone.

I watched this video the other day - scary stats! But exciting to think we can turn the tide with this upcoming generation of teens.

I agree with you, we are allowing children to grow up far too quick. Children just need a basic phone for calls and texts. Nothing else needed. I think children would be so much happier without social media. No wonder so many children have mental health problems.

Also, just because they have a smart phone doesn't mean they have to have social media. There are plenty of parenting apps to stop access to anything you don't want them to have

I think that ship has sailed though? Not saying it's right, but I can't see it being reversible iyswim. Given that most other kids will have the tech.

Mine needs one to access his homework! He also uses it to view bus timetables as he sometimes gets the bus. I haven't allowed any social media though.

One secondary school in our authority has banned mobiles for the first year another uses them extensively in class. During covid it was part of the kit to participate in lessons and if the house did not have internet a mifi along with a chromebook was provided.

My child is nearly 12 and doesn’t have a phone….they’re just not interested in one and I agree.

kids follow the parent….

They do need a smart phone really as they do almost everything on apps. All their timetables are on apps. They use to take pics in class for reference. They aren't allowed to use them in school unless instructed by the teacher.

They don't need the latest expensive phones but they do need to be able to run some basic apps!

My year six son got a phone for his birthday. We are starting to leave him home by himself a little to gain a bit of independence so I preferred that he had a way of contacting us if there were any problems.

He has no access to social media and very strict parental controls on it.

I am very wary of kids with phones and screens in general but we feel happier that he can contact us if needed.

Oh and he has no reason to be taking it into school.

DD needs one to access her homework so you might want to check with the school whether they'll need one or not.

I agree. There are people doing studies on social media and the brain!!!

they do not mix well. One of the first people who helped Zuckerberg created Facebook has said he wished he hadn’t and it was a nuclear weapon for humanity

i agree with him

What I’d you can’t afford it though? Does that mean they don’t get homework? My friend couldn’t afford a phone for her children. No way.

I wanted to be able to track DS on the walk to and from school. I'm a single parent, had to work full time and sometimes he came home to an empty house from age 11, I wanted to be sure he got back safe.

He's a gas man there isn't he? Pockets the millions, then waffles on like that! For right or wrong, tech is reality now. And if schools are utilising it as part of their day to day, it's just part of the brave new world. It's terrifying, don't get me wrong, but it is what it is. It's lifelong learning for us 'older' people.

We are aiming for a smartphone free life. I also wish that schools didn't use bloody apps for homework, it just encourages the "oh, I need it for school" and then all the rest of the crap that comes with it.

DD’s school expects students to be able to use phones to do all sorts of things throughout the day. The few parents I knew who were against cell phones caved and bought one once they saw how much they were utilized.

You can get cheap contract phones for £7.50 a month. Or second hand basic smartphones for £20 on eBay. It doesn't have to cost a fortune

I think it depends on what secondary school looks like for each child really. My sister & I are in our twenties now and we both got phones when we started secondary school because getting to secondary school meant walking a mile ish to the bus stop & then getting on the bus to school, and once we were both in secondary there was no childminder for us so we would be home alone just for an hour or so after school, so our parents wanted us to have the phones for safety & so that if there were any issues we could call them.

My 2 little cousins both have had phones from starting secondary for similar reasons but also because now their timetable and homework are on there through an app and they are sort of encouraged to use phones by their schools in some cases. As an example one of them is just into year 7 and as part of their geography homework they have been put into groups and asked to complete a little project thing, naturally they have made a Whatsapp group chat and spent an hour a night once a week on facetime discussing/working on it. It’s all well and good disagreeing with certain aspects of social media etc but this technology is so common place now that if you’re sending your child in without one then you’re making them the odd one out, the one who will be left out of the plans and chat as that takes place in group chats, and in circumstances like her geography one your child is the awkward one that nobody wants to be grouped up with next time because they are awkward and not able to do the group calls etc.

But what about families that can’t afford that, do the school provide phones and pay for the data?