To think parents are not teaching any independence?

[MrBlobbysNuts]

A local parent group is in uproar because their precious secondary school children are apparently "too vulnerable" to get the bus before and after school without a phone (phones have been banned from premises entirely)

How is getting a bus for 15 minutes without a phone unsafe? Back in the day we just had ourselves and we survived. Give the kids cash and teach them to stop relying on phones to get around. The world is no more dangerous than it was 40 years ago, if anything it’s much safer!

My great gran said the same about reliance on cars, but she had a fully stocked village shop, a post office, a bus service and a guaranteed place at the village school. None of those things exist in that village anymore.

I regularly see posts on our local FB group such as “DS 20 is looking for work in X, Y or Z please message me.” He’s an adult ffs and if he’s not on the group, then he can join it and ask himself. Ugh.

Our son had the same experience, he was also one of the very few students who didn’t need teaching staff to teach him how to do up his own coat.

I dunno, my child's primary school has a little box on the teachers desk, all the year 6's put their phones in the box, a reception lady comes and takes the box then brings it back at the end of the day and the kids grab their phones as their leaving, it doesn't seem a difficult system

Since coming across this thread I've googled it and it's a ban on phones that can take pictures, videos, social media ext..... which I completely agree with I think that's great, a ban on all phones meaning my child couldn't contact me was a very scary thought.

Like the girl who ran into Zara for help only to be refused and made to leave the shop where she ended up beaten and put in hospital by a gang of girls? People these days are far less willing to help. Then there was the girl who was raped by a shop worker when she asked to charge her shine so she could call a taxi. And what about the 15yo girl who walked into a deli to buy a sandwich for to be murdered by the shop worker?

These are just some of the cases I remember.

It’s easy saying ask for help, but how safe is it to ask for help?

Yes I've read since and realised it's just smart phones, not all mobile phones. I agree with that, I don't think kids under 18 should have access to the Internet or any social media anyway. I think smart phones cause all sorts of problems with kids these days.

I didn't like the thought of my DD not having a mobile to ring me on at all. She's autistic and I'm already dreading her going to high school and me not being able to get to her quickly ( primary school is currently a 7 minute walk away )

I also worked at a university (RG, no less!) and a student complained that her access card was blocked. Turned out she had a very overdue library book and had ignored emails and a letter because nobody had told her to read them.

No internet until 18?!? What planet do you live on?

You can’t just say that parents aren’t teaching their children independence. You can’t speak for all parents.

Surely independence means being about to find your way around, manage your money, cook for yourself, use a washing machine, change a bed, know how to ask for help and so on.

We’ve created a world now where it’s virtually impossible to get by without a smart phone. Most bus and train tickets will be on a phone amongst many other things. Even homework’s is all set online now.

We have been used to being able to contact people now for a long time and there aren’t pay phones around like there were in the 80s and 90s. So I think it’s perfectly understandable that parents want to know that their children can contact them on the journey home, if necessary.

However I can also understand that phones are causing problems in schools. Perhaps schools should have a handing phones in policy.

Around 16 years ago I was attacked in broad daylight by a gang of teenagers ( I was also a teenager )

They pulled out a knife and I tried running into a takeaway for help. They locked the doors

By some absolute miracle, a security guard was watching on his cctv, he ran down from his office and came to help me / rang the police. But he risked himself doing so.

It's half and half isn't it, I think some people might help and others wouldn't.

I worded that badly ..... no free unlimited access to the Internet like they do now, where they can access things they shouldn't.

This. Children/teens ought to be able to get a bus etc. without a phone (unless bus passes are only digital) but schools shouldn't ban them from having phones on their journeys because there are many many reasons why having their phone with them would be important as they go other places that straight home.

At my DD's school at the start of each lesson they all put their phones in a tray on the teacher's desk and get them back again at the end of the lesson so there's no using phones during lessons (or if they go to the loo during a lesson) but they still have them before and after school (and during breaks, though I'm less keen on that)

My 8yo (year 4) has just been in her first school residential she couldn’t wait to go along with every child in her class (year 3/4 kids). DD can’t wait to go on another residential in year 5 as she gets to stay away longer. Most of the kids have been on multiple residential with cubs/brownies etc..

My daughter teaches ALevels at a local college. Students (more than one) aged 17 could not understand a bus timetable and asked what 1947 meant.

6% is no access to the internet. It's a lot more without a 'computer'. It is common for the phone to be the only device.

I’m glad you were ok.

I think people live with their heads in the sand about the past sometimes, it wasn’t that great. There was no social media and the local news wouldn’t be interested in a group of teenagers beating up another teenager so this shit stayed where it was, people didn’t talk about it, but now people do and sadly there have been many stories about Good Samaritans being killed which also makes people stop.

When my DD was in year6 she ran into oncoming traffic after getting upset by some bullies at the park. She was just getting use to going out on her own and with friends. She was hit by a car, luckily she wasn’t seriously injured but having her phone meant one of the adult who ran to her help could call me as she was in no state to give them information.

Parents have always helped their kids find work, it's weird you would think jobs haven't always been found through networks. This is just a different medium for asking the same question as has always been asked.

Looks like 1 in 5 homes have only a phone to access the internet.

Ah fair enough then. Not sure I fully agree with 18, but I can definitely see the argument for it.

I suppose i was more meaning at the point of purchase, rather than replacing. If everything was not smart phones dependent (bus passes, food and school apps) im not sure most parents really would not buy smartphones as I think they'd still want the other features for out of school.

I dont think reading this phones and independence skills arent very linked.

Just some families allow a lot of social media time and others dont and banning phones from school won't change that.

Thank you, I had a gash on my arm and the back of my head but came out lightly compared to what it could of been.

I agree, things were bad even back then, you just didn't hear as much about it. My sister was attacked in the same area ( years apart ) at the park by a group of teens. She was hurt far more than I was. She didn't look like her when she came home. Luckily someone rang the police and the police came and helped. Coincidently enough, one of the officers lived down the road from us and was my friends dad

Oh God, I'm so sorry that happened to your DD. That's horrible, I hope she recovered from it,

My DD thinks I'm tight because I won't let her go to our local park with her friends. But I know from what happened to my sister... and Sophie Lancaster ( my childhood hometown/ I went to school with some of the boys who did it ) that parks are also a prime area for attacks

I'd struggle to pick an ideal age for free Internet access tbh, it would be difficult. Some people could behave with the Internet, some could not.

My DD's school has a really good system where lots of things are flagged and if you search you can't get access / a notification gets sent to the office and they'll come and get the child to explain 😅

At school? OMG 😬

What about in a secondary school with1200 pupils? Would it seem a difficult system then?

Tend to find it's not the children that NEED the phone to travel to/from school, it is the parents that are insisting they need to be contactable. I'm not sure at what age these children, if ever, will be ready for independence.