As a grown adult, I really struggle to control my smartphone addiction.
Given just a few seconds of downtime, I find my hand instinctively reaching for my device to fill the void with some mindless scrolling.
But – hypocritically, I admit – I hate to see my nine and seven-year-old boys doing the same.
As much as I wish my sons would come home from school, pull out the Lego box, sit quietly tackling jigsaw puzzles or head off to the local park to do some wholesome tree bark rubbings, that’s not the reality of childhood today.
My children are dependent on their devices and every parent I know says the same. I’d love them to learn to handle this powerful urge early in life, and I’m embarrassed to say that I’m a very poor example to them.
But as data released this week showed that more than 90% of schools in England had banned mobile phones, I’m not sure that it’s a good idea to stop children from taking their devices into their classroom.
My sons’ school does have a ban on phones, but I don’t agree with it.
The purpose of education is to prepare children to go out and meet the world, to face its challenges and thrive.
And schools have to prepare children for a completely different environment than the one we were being readied for in my childhood.
But keeping them in a phoneless cocoon won’t do that.
Whether we like it or not, everything is online now, from doing your banking and keeping up to date with the news, to entertainment and communicating with friends. We can’t fight it.
Teachers must get children ready for this world, not an ideal world of our imagination and memory, so the benefits (and drawbacks) of our constant mobile phone use must be discussed and dealt with.
As schools have the duty to prepare children for other aspects of life, they can help prepare them for digital life – teach them when a phone is and is not appropriate, and develop in them the discipline to leave a device unattended and focus on something else.
Crucially, schools can instruct children in matters of online safety.
The other side of the argument
Teacher Nadeine Asbali wrote for Metro last year about what she makes of phones in schools:
‘There’s only so many times you can see teenagers break down in tears because someone has said something terrible about them online, or catch them photographing themselves pouting in the mirror when they should be in lessons, before coming to the conclusion that phones are draining childhood of the innocence, curiosity and freedom that it should possess.
‘Type any school’s name into TikTok and you’ll see covert footage filmed during lessons or at lunchtimes – often of other people without their consent, pupils and teachers alike.
‘None of us should have to worry about being filmed by our peers in the place we spend the bulk of our weekdays.
‘Anything that curbs the chokehold phones have on the minds of young people is a good thing in my book.’
Many of my friends who are also parents shuddered through the recent Netflix series Adolescence, which exposed how clueless many of us are about cyberbullying, the ‘manosphere’ (platforms where misogynistic influencers radicalise young men) and other online ills.
With phones in the classroom, rather than locked away and forgotten about, teachers – professionals, who are trained in pastoral care and modern technology – can address these issues and help equip impressionable young people to defend themselves against the malign online presence of demagogues like Andrew Tate and his pernicious ilk.
This is something that I – a Luddite forty-something who doesn’t even understand Instagram – have zero hope of doing for my children.
The safety benefits of mobile phone access for children extend further. We are of course extremely lucky that the UK isn’t subject to the horrific school shootings that blight the US seemingly on a weekly basis.
May our children never have to use a phone to alert police to a murderer rampaging around the school corridors.
And a child dealing with anxiety, depression or grief may find comfort in a quick WhatsApp exchange with a family member during breaktime.
And if pupils are required to leave their phones at home (rather than schools sequestering the devices somewhere on the premises for use during breaks and lunches), parents can’t rely on apps like Find My Kids – which provide reassurance as our children start to become independent and travel to school alone, and could, in a worst-case scenario, be vital in finding a missing child.
Of course, there must be strict rules about phone usage in schools – don’t think I’m calling for a smartphone free-for-all.
Kids should not be awakening a Dough Fruit on Roblox (ask your kids about that if you don’t know!) instead of learning long multiplication in maths.
Nor should they be snapping photos of unaware classmates or doing risky TikTok crazes in the playground (although the latter could easily happen without phones being physically present).
But if teachers accept that smartphones are here to stay, and impart on pupils the principles of proper phone usage and safety, perhaps the next generation will grow up having a better mastery of their devices than I do of mine.
Screen access is probably the number one issue that modern parents in countries like the UK grapple with.
Let’s be realistic about the challenges and deal with it together, helping our kids become safe and sensible users of technology – not create a fake, phone-free environment that they will never encounter again.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
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