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)?

There is a blanket ban in schools because of the above problems.
Your children are kept safer with this ban. It's your choice as parents when to provide a phone and what you will allow in terms of usage, but they will not be using them in school.

It’s going to happen nationwide. Just wait.

I'm possibly abit younger and don't have teens so probably shouldn't have an opinion.
Smart phones started to become a thing just as I was leaving school.
I got my first phone when I started secondary school because I had more freedoms so good way to keep in touch with my parents and friends do that's all that I used it for.
Do I think smart phones are essential for school day probably not but as others said homework is on an app and lots of resources are through apps
Things are set up with smart phones in mind. I'm not saying they need a phone to go school with but you might be of the minority in not allowing your kid to have a smart phone at all and be mindful that time has moved on and you can't avoid tech even if you don't agree with it.

I'm perfectly happy with that.

@ringoffiire tbh I disagree with that. The phones are handy, for meeting up ,keep in contact outside of school hours etc. , but when DD is with her friends they largely interact like OP said.

DD walked a friend home yesterday and she didn't even bother taking her phone as it was a fairly short walk.

I think you just need to be prepared that smart phones allow children to bully,post inappropriate things , send people inappropriate pics .
I would never think my child would do any of this but she did and she said she did it cos everyone does it . Don't assume your child won't do these things .

The amount of 'the ship has sailed, stop being a luddite' replies is depressing.

Having a smartphone (not just social media, but any smartphone use) is associated with all sorts of negative health affects from sleep deprivation to depression. Now that we know its bad for our children's health shouldn't we be doing everything we can to roll back their widespread use? As we have done e.g with smoking?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7012622/

We loved without them once,they have there place but not in childhood

Schools do not make using any app a requirement.
All information and homework links you can access through the school website at home, on a laptop. There is never any requirement for a smartphone.

Since we implemented the blanket ban, behaviour and focus has definitely improved. You're never going to get rid of bullying, but smartphones are a tool to enhance and amplifiy that kind of behaviour.

Smart phones AND social media use. Not one sentence in that study mentions having a smartphone and no media /SM usage is damaging.

Thanks OP for starting this thread. There's lots of interesting anecdotal information and some eye-opening comments from parents.

One aspect that's very relevant to the debate about phones and social media, but has been mentioned here less, is what the phone-based childhood has replaced (the play-based childhood, time spent together in families and amongst friends, unstructured unsupervised free play, independence, problem-solving, creativity, etc).

Jon Haidt's book is partly about this as well as the more immediate problems of smart phones for children - and draws heavily on Lenore Skenazy's book 'Free Range Kids'. Those who are saying 'ah well that's just how it is these days, etc' I don't think fully understand both the foundational harms of smart phones (social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction), the opportunity costs of lost experiences, and the problems associated with a decline in unstructured, unsupervised free play.

If you have even a passing interest in this area, you really need to read the book https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-anxious-generation-how-the-great-rewiring-of-childhood-is-causing-an-epidemic-of-mental-illness-jonathan-haidt/7499771

The problem is it's very difficult to lock a phone down (in the UK) to not allow any social media, WhatsApp, internet access etc.

"Two systematic reviews have shown that media multitasking is associated with negative effects on cognitive control, academic performance and socioemotional functioning in youth."

That could be simply listening to music while reading wikipedia.

@MsPossibly so like people have for years( since the end of Victorians) , but through various devices? You know like reading a physical book with music on, or doing homework with music on and so on?

Well then surely the point still stands, especially if they are interacting like this anyway, why not let them have a smartphone?

I think there's a lot of hype about something that is actually not that big of a deal. Times move on and some people get worked up and stuck in the past.

Potentially denying them social opportunities - perhaps you're right.

But also potentially denying them poorer attention spans, cyber bullying, anxiety...

I'd like to see a ban on phones in schools but doubt it will happen.

It's already happening. Any schools not implementing this are behind the times and not following recommendations.

How about:

online gaming replacing in-person interactions
pornography, whenever, whereever they want it
sleep deprivation (what can I look up on my phone!)
attention fragmentation (what notifications do I have!)
inability to suit quietly and wonder
cant go to a concert, music, play, performance without recording it
no true independence (my parents are tracking my every movement!)
never get bored (being bored is important)

I could go on

my son is y6 and heading to high school

I agree with you but reluctantly agreed that he’d miss out socially if he didn’t have one. Even now most of year 6 is using WhatsApp to socialise, arrange things etc.

also he will need access to apps for homework.

The problem is it's very difficult to lock a phone down (in the UK) to not allow any social media, WhatsApp, internet access etc.

It shouldn’t be though. In the same way a young child can’t buy cigarettes, or even go to a music gig on licenced premises there’s rules in place that ensure it’s age-appropriate. What’s ridiculous is, a child age 10 in year 6 cant actually buy a mobile phone from an official retailer and a burner phone from county lines gangs doesn’t count, that’s the madness of it, it’s us as parents who are making the decisions for them, buying the phones and letting them play in the traffic on things like WhatsApp because they’re children, yet we’re enabling them to have the addiction of adults.

It is worrying that they have no sense of personal safety, they have no idea what is going on around them or who is around them. It is truly scary.

BINGO.

He shouldn't be on Whatsapp.
He won't need apps for homework - check with the school.