Esther Ghey, school phone ban

[Davros]

I heard her on R4’s Today programme this morning. I thought she was great, really impressive. I wonder how far down the rabbit hole Brianna would have gone if this campaign had been around then.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgng2l7d36o.amp

This. It’s not hard.

Can I ask how your child/ren is? How old were they when you gave them a phone.......and why did you gave them a phone?

i speak as someone who has never had a smartphone myself. I get on just fine without.

That is extremely harsh and an unnecessary comment @ImmortalSnowman. As well as an overreach as presumably you don’t know her personally. Esther has lost her child in a horrific manner and you’re judging her?

I would also support a ban because, to paraphrase someone else, children/teens are curiously susceptible to the impact of the words of others. Especially autistic kids. Including being susceptible to the words spoken by strangers on social media.

Agreed! Well said. Not harsh at all. Probably understated, imo.

I agree with a ban but sadly this would not have saved her child. It’s like banning sweets and unhealthy food in school. Makes no difference unless it’s replicated in the home.
I personally feel having parented teens who are now adults, nobody under 16 should have anything other than a brick phone. If I could go back and do it again I would not have let my kids have access to a smart phone until later. The evidence is there about how damaging screen time is and couple that with the shit on the internet, I honestly think in a few years we will be horrified we let kids access devices. Bit like how kids used to smoke 120 years ago!
I saw a newborn baby in a pram the other day with an I pad attached right in its face. It nearly made me cry.

I’d like to see devices a bit like the old PDAs that would be issued at the beginning of the school year to each child.They would have the syllabus, all the textbooks, videos, etc necessary for that year’s subjects already on them. No need for the expense and worry of smartphones.

Brick phones should be allowed for school, kept in bags.

Smartphones should remain the parents’ decision, with the onus on tech companies to restrict availability of content and far more effirt to provide information on harm reduction.

Mental health should be massively funded and supported everywhere, as the societal changes are rapid and huge, and it’s hard to know what the future will bring with regard to tech.

My DC school has 100% no phone policy, very strictly imposed. I was very stressed about it at first - and its still a bit stressful as the school is about 40 minutes away from home by public transport - but I can see why its beneficial.

Most of the schools in our area have no phones policy already.

Ds school have a phones off and out of sight during the whole day. That seems to be well followed as they are consistent.

My issue with taking an extreme approach in schools is it may make children less likely to approach a teacher and say “miss I was sent this and it made me feel uncomfy” and have those conversations and those lines of communication do need to be kept open.

Once children make their own way to and from school they often need a smart phone.

Mine needs it for the bus- no ticket - app only.
After school needs it for the bus, and then for the sports club they attend- app that has a barcode that changes depending on where they need to scan and then informs them of where they are/what they are doing.
Cafe at sports centre -everything ordered on the app.
Homework is completed via apps- and home computers are a thing of the past.

I have teenagers, they have never taken their phone upstairs. Yes this has been difficult to enforce and police at times - lots of 'but everyone else is allowed ' but I parent my kids.

The school Brianna attended use Yondr pouches so it’s really unlikely that everyone else was on their phones all the time.

@spirit20 sorry hadn't meant to quote your post.

Our LA has introduced a ban on phones. Kids can take them to school but can only use them at break and lunchtimes outwith the school grounds.
Don't know why they didn't do it years ago.

So the phone wasn't being handed in?

I think the pouches are a good idea, and more realistic solution- the genie is already out of the bottle.

DD’s school bans phones. However, they are all expected to take in devices such as Chromebook, laptop, iPad etc every day - and they can do pretty much everything on those that they can do on a phone, so it seems a bit pointless to me.

Just to add - I work in a large comprehensive- 99.9% of kids will put the phone away when asked or hand it over when asked. Brianna’s mum talks about several calls a day from school about her child’s phone use. That is not normal in my experience. There were much bigger issues going on in that child’s life. Similarly I am sure most parents have told their kid to put the phone away without them punching holes in the wall.

The TRA tone police have found this thread I see. You may silence us but you won't silence our opinions or the truth. #Unrepentent, #sorrynotsorry

£25 a pop for Yondr pouches at our school (private). How will that work in state schools?

The pouches came in at that school after Brianna’s death

I'm not sure anyone should position themselves as being quite so morally virtuous.

They didn’t use them at the time of Brianna’s death.

So I’ve just googled this, and it says they were introduced September last year, but I know 90% sure that they had them in at least 2023 because I knew a kid that went there. She doesn’t go to that school anymore, she moved to a different one in September 2024, which is how I know she definitely had one before when Google is telling me they started with the pouches.
Obviously my wires are crossed somewhere!!

Our school has Yondr pouches and they’re £10 initially and £20 to replace if lost.

One doesn't need to be a fervent tra to think that deliberately referring to a murder victim in ways that would really upset their family is crossing the line.

Blimey what a swizz (for us!). Tch.

Well, that makes it more applicable.

But realistically break and lunchtime are the most dangerous times in school for children to be using them!