1 week Ago By Yahoo Life UK
When my son Adam* started at secondary school two miles away from our house, knowing that he would have a phone to stay in contact with us was vital – for him, as well as us. He had to take the bus every day – something he’d never done on his own before – but knowing he had a phone and a friend to travel with gave me a certain amount of reassurance. So, hearing that 90% of secondary schools have now banned mobile phones leaves me feeling very conflicted.
According to the research by the children’s commissioner for England, some of these schools don’t allow mobiles on site at all, while others require pupils to hand their phones in or simply keep them in their bag – which I think is a better approach. I didn’t want to drive my son to school every day – Adam needed to learn some independence – but I worried about him having to get to and from that huge school on his own. Whether you live in a city like London or in a rural area, it’s a big deal for a child to make the transition from primary to secondary school.
Keeping in contact Our son was used to the safety of his primary school that was just a short walk from our house. But then, at the age of 11, he had to make his way to a big South London secondary school with over 2,000 pupils, and as it was some distance from our house, I felt he needed to have a phone to let us know if anything happened that would make him late home. Buses break down, travel cards get lost, he could get detention – how would he let us know if he was stuck? So, letting Adam have his own phone to keep in his rucksack gave him a sense of security – and it helped me feel less anxious, too.
Of course, there were some teething troubles. At school, Adam had his phone (quite correctly) confiscated a few times for getting the device out during lessons – at the time the school hadn’t imposed an outright ban. I was furious though, when one day he was even forced to come home without his phone.
The school had taken it away, saying he was being punished for causing a distraction to other pupils in class. Punishment was fair enough, but what would happen if he couldn’t get hold of me on the way home – what if something happened and he couldn’t let me know? An element of risk Even after Adam got mugged for his phone, I still felt he needed to have one. On a side road not far from our house a group of boys threatened him with a knife and he had to hand over his almost brand-new phone.
It was a terrifying experience for a 12-year-old boy. Anxious as I felt for him after what happened, I wanted him to regain his confidence. And for that, Adam needed to know he could contact us – and us him.
After some discussion, we gave him a very basic old phone so he could call us in a crisis. We knew that no one would want to steal this old, out-of-date phone, but it helped to stop us worrying. I’m not arguing that pupils should be able to use smartphones whenever they feel like it.
I agree that they’re a dangerous distraction at school for both pupils and teachers, and that social media can have a pernicious impact on children’s mental health. Technology break Having brought up teenagers and recently watched Adolescence, the controversial Netflix drama, in horror, I’m well aware that cyber-bullying and potential abuse can all result from children having phones. There’s no denying that a much-needed technology break in the daytime would benefit all our children.
Children are more physically active and interact more with each other if they’re not on their phones at break-time. Plus they can’t be tempted to cheat their way through tests or become distracted by secretly checking their phone in lessons. But banning phones from schools entirely only solves some of the problems young people face in their school day.
Like me, I believe most parents buy mobile phones for their children with safety in mind. As parents, we go from the safe primary school years and knowing where our kids are to the secondary years and having little or no control over their day – and the phone becomes a crucial part of their safety. The best solution Apart from keeping in touch when children are in school, at a friend’s house, or at after-school clubs, if there is an emergency, they are reachable.
And let’s not forget the location sharing apps that can come in handy for tracking young people’s whereabouts, giving parents reassurance. I think it’s worth considering permitting child-friendly phones in school – basic models that don’t contain distracting apps but still give parents a means to contact their children when they need to (and vice versa). And parental controls can of course be applied to phones to limit the number of hours they use their phone and block access to certain apps and websites.
Whatever the type of phone, banning their usage on secondary school premises is the ideal – but not banning the device altogether. As with Adam, schools will often stipulate that phones should remain switched off at the bottom of the school bag during the school day, or handed over for safe-keeping while they’re at school, with confiscation (just for the day) being an immediate consequence of flouting the rule. Having been through the worry of the secondary years with our son, who gradually learnt to be confident and independent, I think this is the right way to tackle phones in schools.
*Name has been changed to protect identity. Read more about teens and mobile phones:.
