To be shocked that 97% of 12 years olds have smart phones?

[Rhayader]

My DCs school does not allow smartphones and most of the schools around here are the same. The kids all have Nokias (and often an AirTag or similar for tracking).

I can’t believe it’s 97%! Am I totally out of touch? She’s never even asked for a phone.

https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/23/children-who-dont-have-smartphones

I expected a majority but not 97%. I share the concerns that seem to be raised by this, especially the access to and impact of social media.

Reading this thread with interest.

I am st the stage of visiting seconday schools for my child. My two favourites both have a zero phone policy within school which includes all staff. Any phones taken inside are locked away at registration and no access until they are handed back out at the end of the day.
At the gates there are banners with "say no to smartphones " with a QR code to sign up for updates from this organisation campaigning for no smartphones/social media until 16y/o.

Both schools are an excellent fit for my child but have wondered how realistic this phone thing might be. Both fall under strict academies but other schools have somewhat weaker phone policies.

Are there any non-smart models that are better/easier to persaude an 11y/o are okay than an old Nokia brick please?

I am keen to not facilitate social media for some time yet....(many reasons for this).

Do the schools use apps for learning and revision ? My experience of secondary is that apps are used for exam preparation and homework so even if smartphones aren’t allowed at school, kids need access to a smartphone or tablet at home.

Will your kids travel to school by bus? Many bus companies use e-tickets.

Exactly.

I had a phone when I was 13 - over 20 years ago! They're hardly a brand new contraption. Admittedly it wasn't a smartphone, but it did have very slow and expensive internet access and a camera etc. I also had a computer in my room with broadband internet access on it at a similar age.

I think I got a smartphone around 16-17 maybe, but that's only because they weren't really all that common or affordable before then.

I guess the teachers have iPhones because I can always see that she’s at school?

Either way I’m not particularly interested in watching her location in the school, it’s more about the one day a week that she takes two busses into central London for a club and there’s plenty of iPhones in London busses.

I’m in the US, 90% of 12yo in my kids’ school have a smartphone, 100% have a smartphone and/or Apple Watch. These are the school stats, which they have because all gadgets have to be handed into the relevant office before first period.

I am absolutely shocked that in the U.K. schools are setting homework via apps! Tiny screens! Is the actual work itself to be done on the phone? Or is it more “turn to page 37 of your text books, read that chapter and answer the questions at the end. Written submissions due by Friday”?

How are adults supposed to manage screen time - computers, iPads, phones, TV - when actual schools REQUIRE children to be on screens? Are older children basically spending hours of homework time on a screen?

Are older children basically spending hours of homework time on a screen?

In the school I work in, kids are staring at a screen most of their lesson time(the big one at the front, a Chromebook or their phone as they can use their phones in some lessons). Then they go to break and stare at their phones. Then they go home and do their homework or socialise with friends, again via screens.

Are they not recognising the irony of using a QR code for their anti smart phone campaign?

@DoubleShotEspresso

I have to say I do find it inappropriate for a school to be openly promoting what is effectively an ideological campaign group.

Obviously schools play a role in supporting parents and families, but for me trying to tell parents what technology their DC can use out of school hours is a step too far.

I hope you just mean tablets as iPads aren't worth what they're asking. If my school insisted on an iPad I'd expect them to pay for it as other tablets are a lot cheaper.

In Finland its around that percentage at 7 years old! But there's a very recent trend (as in I've only starting hearing about it on the news this year) of parents opting for watch phones for first phones instead of going straight to smart phone once their child starts school.

My DD is in 13 now and this year in school they are told to use their phones in PE for example, using fitness trackers to track them when they go for a 5k walk/jog round town, and take selfies at certain landmarks to prove they went there, so they need to have smart phones with internet access. They also get to use them to listen to music with headphones in art, if it helps them focus. But other lessons they get taken at the start of the lesson and returned at the end.

Homework thankfully is not screen based the vast majority of the time, its mostly done with their textbooks and workbooks. And screens are used rarely in class, again its mostly actual physical textbooks (I was worried they would have switched to digital textbooks when my DD started at upper school this year but they haven't yet)

It’s usually to provide instructions I.e. do x, y and z or attach a document to be printed out. You must be aware of google classroom, Teams is also used.

My younger two got them once they started secondary school mainly for the purpose of being able to contact me due to unreliable public buses to/from school. If we'd lived in a city where transport was frequent or it was possible to walk I probably wouldn't have so young.

No chance that is true.

Except that it is.
Sorry if it's convenient to you world view.

It’s certainly unusual.

No it's via Apps, websites in my DC's case this is only for Maths, Science subjects and Languages, IMO, languages is the worst, it is essentially more app than teacher!

My eldest is in a sixth form college for A levels and with his subjects, it has gone back to huge textbooks and lots and lots of reading from a reading list.

Are they homeschooled or at private school?

I actually don't agree that all 'screen time' is bad, high quality dramas and films are something I encourage my DC to watch as I want them to understand plot development and characters and it helps with their concentration. Many DC now don't have the concentration to watch a story for an hour or so, which IMO is hugely detrimental to their development.

A normal comprehensive school.

In the 90s many children took long bus journeys to school without having access to a phone...

And yet, there were public phone boxes on all main streets - so we all had a method of contacting our parents if needed. We would carry change for the phone or it was common for adults to give 20p to a child who asked for it because they needed to phone parents.

All the phone boxes are long gone...how else are today's children supposed to contact parents in an emergency?

That is quite astonishing!

My cousins got theirs on their 6th birthdays! (By 7, they knew how to override parental controls and all sorts). It's not a pretty sight.

@Goldenbear
There wasn't a lot they could do about it. It would be me buying phones, and I said I wasnt buying them. They know when I say say no, its no.
I spend plenty on all their hobbies so they aren't hard done to. The hobbies teach skills and it's things they will probably keep doing for a life time and they are fun and healthy. That's worth my money. Arsing about on phones isnt.
Their Dad got them cheap androids at their 16th birthday in July, with pay as you go Sims, which they top up monthly from their part time jobs. If they run out they run out. So far they haven't because in reality they don't use them much.

Little sister is 12 and won't be getting one either. She will object and complain more because that's her nature. But she won't be getting one.

It’s so sad that children have smartphones. So much information on the detrimental affects of smartphone use in children coming out in various studies now. I really hope things are different when my kids are starting secondary school.

if anyone is interested there’s a smartphone free childhood movement gaining traction. https://smartphonefreechildhood.co.uk/

you can find your local school groups and make pledges to delay smartphone use so there will be less peer pressure to buy them. It’s so bad for children’s mental health. There’s absolutely no need for a child/teenager to have smartphones. I was fine with a Nokia as a teenager.

Apparently WhatsApp is one of the worst for mental health and bullying according to the police but all the social media apps are atrocious.