Swiped - The school that banned mobile phones

[chaosmaker]

Watched both episodes and was fairly astounded as to how clueless the presenters were about phone use in children and the sites that can be accessed. Also algorithms.

The children in the experiment were 12 with smartphones that they spent hours on and this seemed to stop them doing things they should be doing at 12 like playing and socialising in person.

I'm just interested in why people just don't give their children dumb phones if they think they need them. The studies on brain development seem to point to traits that can be present in ND so given that fact, I'm wondering if that is correlated with so much SEN and ND diagnoses in children.

It's an interesting programme and worth watching just for the science bits if nothing else. Also for how the children themselves felt during the 21 days they didn't have their phones and other devices for.

Reasonable - children should only have dumb phones and parents could make this a cultural shift en masse

Unreasonable - children need to learn social media at any cost and must have tech.

I was really shocked at how late these children were staying up, well into the night. I can't imagine they were effectively managing to participate in school the next day.

On another issue, I attended a training course recently about lithium batteries and it was mentioned how many people (children especially) charge their phones under their pillows. Battery heats up/fire risk increases. Children hiding their phones from their parents, under pillows. Terrifying.

@TeenToTwenties There were always written notes but they'd be in a physical book in the person's house which I far preferred. Most people have a set schedule for when their carers arrive and our office send out paper rotas for service users on request.

I'm at a distance though, so knowing when carer has been in etc is very helpful. Mum receives a paper schedule and an online one, but the real time app is very good.

We are transitioning our tween kids to the pinwheel phones - they look like smart phones but are not. We have added WhatsApp (which I think is ok as long as you are regularly reading messages and checking contacts) but they don’t have internet browsers and apps like tik tok are completely blocked. Early days and set up has not been easy but I think these could be the answer

We have tried different parental controls on smart phones and none are bullet proof (and are incredibly difficult to set up and use, are not consistent but bizarrely quite easy for tech savvy kids to crack)

What’s app is one of the worst. Especially when they make groups to bully each other, send pictures etc.

there’s no restrictions on age and what they can send, and if it does come down to evidence it’s end to end encrypted so unless you’ve screen shot there’s no proof. Because of the encryption not even WhatsApp can see what’s being sent so they can’t do anything or pick up any offences.

TikTok, Snapchat and instagram are much better communication apps imo. There is at least a level of monitoring by the platforms who will report anything illegal to the relevant country’s authorities.

I watched it. Nothing surprised me. (Police officer) but it is shocking isn't it.

I think in 100 years time we'll look back at this the way we view Victorian children going up chimneys now.

That's it.. so many of us are feeling the same. It us crazy to think we are giving something to our children that in our hearts we don't want to give them and that we know will be more negative than positive for them. There's probably no other similar scenario where as parents we are doing what we think is not best for our children.

I know there is an element of truth to this but it's completely defeatist thinking. We have to ban and censor and limit all sorts of things that aren't good for teens - drugs, alcohol, porn being obvious ones. Of course they push back- some more than others but we can't just say 'I know you'll drink alcohol anyway so here's a bottle of scotch' any more than we should be giving them unlimited phone use

Which is why I said we need to educate kids (and parents) on safe phone use. Not just give them one and tell them to crack on, but to teach them how to set parental controls, time limiters, and teach kids what to watch out for and how do deal with it.

with sex and porn it’s also been shown that telling kids to abstain, end of, doesn’t work. Children who receive sex education have lower teen pregnancy rates, and I would hope teaching them that porn does not equal loving sex empowers them to say no to what boys may have seen and try to get them to do. Nearly every school in the Uk has sex and phse education from primary age, we don’t just tell them “no”.

alcohol the same. We don’t have an outright ban on drinking under 18. Children are legally allowed to drink alcohol much younger in certain contexts. Many parents choose to let teens have a wine or beer at home so they can test their limits, and are less likely to go out on their 18th birthday and get dangerously drunk.

it’s gradual introduction and education on the dangers we need, not just a ban. That’s avoiding the problem.