To wonder what the ban on smartphones across 17 schools in South London will acheive.

[ThatMother2024]

The Guardian reports that 17 schools are uniting to ban smartphones. I have no idea what this is expected to acheive, what the evidence base is and whether kids will just devise some easy workaround.

Ridiculous. Smart phones are just part of life now. My ds uses his daily for his school bus pass, his cash card to pay for his lunch and his gym membership. All stored on the phone. Also to keep in touch with me if he's going somewhere else after school, needs a lift or whatever.

They shouldn't have phones in class and they shouldn't be heard or seen in school, but outside, school shouldn't have control over that. They're a vital piece of equipment.

@astonssandboxisalittertray I also however agree that my teens & all their mates use phones to arrange everything / chat / game / buy tickets / google stuff etc etc . Hard to wind it back when that's how the adult world operates.

Control the access to 'Lord knows what' so adolescents learn how to use smartphones appropriately.

My kids need their phones to get to and from school and friends houses at the weekend. I'm also perfectly happy with them keeping in touch with their sports teams and school friends on WhatsApp. Given we also check what they are looking at, I'm okay with them having but not posting on TikTok.
Oh they also campaigned for us to upgrade our Duolingo subscription so they could get extra features. They use that app to practice their languages (and one is learning a random one for fun). They also run through the online flashcards they make for revision on their way to/from school at exam time. It is possible for adolescents to use smartphones effectively and correctly.

You only need to look on public transport to see how mobile phones decimate the art of social conversation. Trains are deathly silent now in comparison to the chit chat there used to be - adults all scrolling. Great if schools & parental groups can reduce online time for kids.

Xbox etc would also be on my hit list. Which you can also play on the phone, incase not wasting enough time on it elsewhere. I really do think gaming must be responsible for a huge dip in mainly teen boy academic performance, long term health and slower social skill development. Undoubtedly some kids are more sucked into this than others. And I know some parents who possibly have superior parenting skills (or kids far less invested) may not see a problem, but I'm curious if anyone else would be relieved if schools encouraged families to sign up to just never getting the blasted things?

(I'm sure there are parents out there who are going to tell me what a blessing they were during Covid and how they improve hand/eye co-ordination and how we should have had better parental controls - all true in part. Still I wish it had never crossed our threshold, nor had such a tight grip on the peer group).

@Parker231 but why can't schools have the simple "out of sight and switched off" rule?

@Becauseurworthit Hmm. I've lived in London for over 20 years, well pre-dating smartphones and still now they only have limited use on the tube. I can assure you there has never been any social conversation, artful or otherwise, on public transport in London!

@Becauseurworthit when was the last time you were on a train?
They're probably more noisy due to phones.
People's loud conversations, watching stuff, listening to music, facetime conversations.....😂

They use them even though they are not allowed.

I've paid for a wallet through school that they are starting to use next term. Apparently it is magnetic and unlocks on leaving school.

My daughter is forever on her phone during school hours, so this should stop that!

She is 15 and we are in South London.

Maybe some kids will go outside at lunch and play something - that would be cool. Maybe they will go back to talking to the other humans around them.

I can't really see a down side tbh.

My DC's school made phones vital to the school day. They were being used regularly in lessons. Then they banned them but don't have alternative resources to plug the gap they have left. I don't think they should have been used in school in the first place, but now the children's education is suffering.

@Needmorelego I commute by train and have for years. @astonssandboxisalittertray also not in London which admittedly has always been very anonymous.

Schools are in a weak position to ban smartphones outright if they also:

Insist parents can only pay for school lunches / trips etc on an app - no cash accepted.

Only do virtual parent evenings

Insist absences must be reported on an app.

Certain homework is done and submitted over an app.

If schools want to be smartphone free then can't households also demand this and refuse to comply with the above?

@Becauseurworthit you must travel on the only train in the country where no one is having the world's loudest phone conversation, playing music or watching something 😂
Which route is this utopian dream of a train?

This sounds a really interesting book, thanks.

Seriously? Please just do a basic Google scholar search.

Oh dear 🤣

I genuinely think it’s the rampant bullying in schools that has caused anxiety in children, not smartphones. I watched an entire primary school descend into a lord of the flies situation when a new headmaster turned up with new behavior management ideas. The head teachers even acknowledged anxiety was increasing but insisted it was because they hadn’t fully implemented the changes.
End bullying and provide students with predictable fair discipline and a safe school environment and anxiety will vanish

Fewer spelling mistakes.

Not during maths they don't.

I have never heard of Google scholar before now. There’s no need for you to be so rude.

this is silly though. They're not saying you can't do any off these on your own time. They're not banning kids from owning smartphones. They're banning their use during the school day.

My kids' school in the USA did it and I'm perfectly happy about it. We still have enough problems because kids have school issued laptops and will watch YouTube in lessons with their earbuds in if the teachers don't catch them.

Any idea how long it takes to get a phone off a student? A massive drain in resources for something which is easily solvable.

A step in the right direction away from the shared delusion they are a necessary part of childhood and adolescence.

Nurber· Yesterday 21:58

I imagine it would achieve more focussed learners and therefore less spelling mistakes.

Fewer, not less....

The OED describes focussed as "irregular..."

😃