Teachers Urge Parents Not To Buy Children Smartphones (bbc.com) 62
Monmouthshire schools have launched what they believe is the first countywide policy in the UK asking parents not to give smartphones to children under 14, affecting more than 9,000 students across state and private schools.
The initiative follows rising cyber-bullying reports and concerns that some children spend up to eight hours daily on devices, with students reportedly online at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning. Hugo Hutchinson, headteacher at Monmouth Comprehensive, said schools experience "much higher levels of mental health issues" linked to smartphone addiction, noting that children's time is largely spent outside school where many have unrestricted device access despite existing school bans.
The initiative follows rising cyber-bullying reports and concerns that some children spend up to eight hours daily on devices, with students reportedly online at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning. Hugo Hutchinson, headteacher at Monmouth Comprehensive, said schools experience "much higher levels of mental health issues" linked to smartphone addiction, noting that children's time is largely spent outside school where many have unrestricted device access despite existing school bans.
Or just be parents (Score:2, Insightful)
My kid is near to graduating high school but for $reasons it was necessary that she have a phone when she was much much younger.
However, I locked it down hard to block adult sites, TikTok, instagram, other social media trash, etc, had many 1:1 chats with her about the trash online because I know she was still exposed through other kid's and just being alive in this country, and I took her phone every night at bed time and returned it in the morning on her way to school.
Today: straight A's, socially well adj
Re: (Score:2)
I guess she never told you about her burner phone, eh?
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Yes I bought it for her so she could have her fentanyl dealer on speed dial to bring it straight to her at whatever party she's getting fucked up at 3am. She doesn't know where she is so just sends him her gps coordinates.
Re: (Score:2)
I guess she never told you about her burner phone, eh?
Maybe not you, but the school is aware since they confiscated it on sight. :-) Keep in mind, if we can get the phones out of the classroom that would be a big win.
Re: Or just be parents (Score:2, Interesting)
Locked phones still dial 011 (Score:2)
Call the cops at the first sign of a shooter ...
A phone with parental control sort of stuff can still dial 911. Even a locked phone can dial 911.
Re: (Score:2)
my kid should be able to call me if they get sick or want to change after school plans or whatever, just like I was able to do, and my parents were able to do.
Bingo. And in the case of shooters there's also "I got away safe but they won't let me leave yet.", which could be the case with the vast majority of students not harmed in the event.
The point of parents having an overriding desire to stay in touch with their kids is a BIG one. Trying to break down how that'd go as far as to stop a shooting is disingenuous.
Re: (Score:2)
I live in the usa where we have school shootings and ice raids... posting as ac because my views on this topic keep getting modded down instead of discussed.
Try not indulging in idiotic politics and perhaps you will find your views better received.
Clue: AC get modded down too. They merely have a lower starting score, its not clear how you think posting AC help.
Re: (Score:2)
btw your post offered nothing constructive to this discussion.
Untrue, I instructed political zealots how to be more successful in conversations outside their information silos. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
you told me to coddle to the brittle feelz of political zealots, not constructive. :-)
0 for 2.
Actually you seemed to already possess that skill. Its basically describes your original post.
:-)
Here's further instruction, if we look at the Venn diagram, those who ignore you once they see your political spin includes not only the zealots on the other side, but it also includes non-zealots. Believe it or not, there world consists of more than your zealot allies and zealot enemies, it also contains a lot of will you idiots take your BS somewhere else sort of folks. And now I will take my own adfice.
Re: (Score:2)
That makes about as much sense as arming teachers to prevent school shootings.
What the fuck good is a child having a phone in an active shooter scenario? Do you think none of the teachers have phones to dial 911 on? Or the administrative office? And in the other 99.999% of time, it's a distraction to why the child is there: TO LEARN.
How about we do something about the guns?
Re: (Score:2)
A kid with a phone might just get into more trouble - a text arriving *ding*, and the shooter finds a new target. On balance, it might be worse to have that phone.
Re: (Score:2)
One thing I learned by being the youngest of 6 kids is that kids are very creative when it comes to making poor decisions. I understand that I can't keep them safe from everything in the world, so I do my best to teach the well, then I hope some of it sinks in.
Re: (Score:2)
And all that time and effort goes to hell when she meets that musician. Wait. I forgot, you are the exception.
She'll have far better odds of surviving that encounter. That's all parent's can do is alter the odds. Like air bags, no guarantee, just better odds.
Re: Or just be parents (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My wife was on the straight and narrow till she met me. Fear the power of a bad boy!
LOL. She probably domesticated you. :-)
Maybe we need an ePhone, that's 'e' not 'i' ... (Score:2)
Re: Maybe we need an ePhone, that's 'e' not 'i' .. (Score:2)
Ship's sailed on that one (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It was definitely a big problem because if some of the kids have them, the ones that don't are excluded. In the UK there are setups where groups of parents agree to block smartphones together. That seems to work because the kids have peers who a) are just as restricted as them and b) are available under other means of contact because they aren't using their smartphones all the time. In some places it seems that whole schools start working in the same way. In that case this can actually make a difference.
Re: (Score:3)
It was definitely a big problem because if some of the kids have them, the ones that don't are excluded.
This was a huge issue for my oldest in middle school. She was in a very small minority that did not have a phone. It was made worse by the fact that we don't have a landline, so if friends wanted to call her, they were calling either my wife or my phone (and the kids calling were not a huge fan of that, so they didn't call much). In addition to the social aspects, it caused a few issues with extracurriculars where one of us wasn't present and things like pickup times were fuzzy rather than fixed.
We stuck
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Pencil, paper, and a calculator. are STILL cheaper than a smartphone.
I need a big eraser too. The pencil's built-in is insufficient. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
You should buy 300 pounds of fruit rollups. I know a guy.
Lines up with recommendations by Jonathan Haidt (Score:5, Insightful)
This lines up with recommendations by Jonathan Haidt in the US, where he basically says don't give kids cell phones (or social media) until high school, and even then it's not great. I know that we followed this advice. Our kids said that many of their peers already had phones or devices at school in grades 7 and 8. They also, alarmingly, said many of their peers had already watched Deadpool at this age, which I found astounding. I think it's OK to let kids be kids.
We also have rules about keeping the phones at the charging area at night (so they don't have them in their bedrooms when it's time to sleep).
We definitely feel like we could easily be more strict, but our kids' friends seem to think we're some of the strictest parents. Though our kids generally tell us that's a good thing, and they think their peers are making a lot of bad decisions.
Honestly, as a parent, I feel like there's a lot of stuff being pushed on our kids that we don't really agree with, but has become a societal norm, and we just have to help them navigate.
I mentor a high school team, so I end up being around lots of high school students. It's very common for them to have a conversation where everyone tries to outdo each other with their mental health labels (ADHD, anxiety, OCD, ASD, neurodiverse, etc.). I asked another mentor, who graduated around 2014, if this was normal when he went to school, and he said "absolutely not", so this seems like a relatively recent phenomenon. I suspect it lines up with the social media and twitter or tiktok influencer videos. These ideas are clearly coming from somewhere. I'm pretty sure that cell phones are mental health petri dishes. In some ways it's good because mental health is no longer a stigma, but I don't think we should be basing our identities on our self-diagnoses.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently it's leading to a renaissance in landlines. Kids will need to communicate, but they don't need a smartphone. So some parents simply get them a landline so they can make phone calls to their friends.
This works for younger kids to keep in touch, but who don't wander too far away from parents, so likely adolescents in elementary school. Instead of a smartphone, they get a landline.
Older kids like teens get old school flip or feature phones. This lets them talk to their friends, make and receive call
What do they suggest as a replacement? (Score:2)
Smartphones have the functions of so many other gadgets these days.
(Apart from the phone and texting)
Presumably they would have to get the kid a scientific calculator, and some sort of GPS for navigation. And a kindle so they can read books, a MP3 players...
Re:What do they suggest as a replacement? (Score:5, Insightful)
First of all, my kids have an alarm clock, so they don't need the alarm on their phone. Alarm clocks are cheap. Secondly, our school requires us to provide a scientific calculator for math class, and you can't bring a phone into the exams, and a basic scientific calculator is really cheap (and the school has some loaners as well). Third, we're only talking about the age of 14, so they don't need a GPS. It's all walking or biking distance.
Need I remind everyone that just a few years ago kids were getting along just fine without smartphones and social media, and according to evidence and data they were actually doing better emotionally and physically. We had walkmans then, or MP3 players later. They still exist, and honestly they're not really needed.
The biggest gripe I have is that teachers themselves almost exclusively use Google Classroom to assign work, and a lot of kids just use their phones to do their assignments. If teachers want to avoid kids having devices, they need to stop making devices a requirement to hand in schoolwork, at least before high school.
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't the 'approved' no-memory scientific calculator still a thing since phones can be used for cheating?
Are students today really expected to read a book using a phone? wtf. my. eyes.
-Jack of all trades, master of none; meet the smartphone; so
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps a parent for the first few trips (Score:2)
What do they suggest as a replacement? To get to the city bus stop after school? To get to their friend's house and back home? To get to the library? To get to any of the multitude of places a person under 14 might want to go?
Why do you want to encourage students being chauffeured between school and home?
What makes you think the chauffeuring lasts more than a few trips? Believe it or not. Kids managed that and more prior to the invention of smartphones.
In the summer prior to starting Kindergarten, my Mom showed me the way to my elementary school. We practiced a few times. On my first day of school, she walked with me, following me, offering no instructions or clues. She watched me stop for the school crossing guard and wait for the guard's OK to cross the street and enter the school grounds. On day two o
Re: (Score:3)
When I went to school I:
- Did not have a smartphone
- Had a scientific calculator
- Did not have a GPS. My parents actually didn't pick me up from school. I walked home, others cycled home. I was perfectly able to make it without any "smart" tools.
- Did not have a MP3 player or walkman - I didn't need to be distracted from my own thoughts. As a result I had some actual friends.
Kids these days are all addicted to their smartphone and being connected 24/7. This is a bad thing. A really bad thing.
Parents don't r
What do they suggest as a replacement? An ePhone (Score:2)
Smartphones have the functions of so many other gadgets these days. (Apart from the phone and texting) Presumably they would have to get the kid a scientific calculator, and some sort of GPS for navigation. And a kindle so they can read books, a MP3 players...
Recall the original iPhone? Built-in factory apps only. No 3rd party app downloads. Add Parental and School Controls. Maybe allow some school supplied apps, similar to Corporate iPhone app distribution channels. It can flip into a more restricted mode when it recognizes its on school grounds. Perhaps teachers can turn on a test mode where all apps close and only the calculator can be launched. A school browser white list, a parent defined white list. Etc.
Call it an ePhone, 'e' for Education.
its the additive apps (Score:3)
> concerns that some children spend up to eight hours daily on devices, with students reportedly online at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning
That is because all of the apps are designed to maximize engagement, plus kids are easy to influence. The predatory software is the issue.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course no one is dictating anything, they are asking. It's right there in the summary.
Why is there always someone who when they are nicely asked to not do something get upset that people are forcing them to do things? Just because you are asked to do something doesnt mean you have to do it.
Re: (Score:2)
While I skew on keeping the government out of personal liberties, to play devil's advocate. One thing to consider is that if there is problem if most middle school kids are interacting on social media, then parents who recognize the harms of social media on there children and limit access are stuck between a rock and hard place. So who is responsible for protecting children on a systematic scale?
Consider a similar albeit more extreme situation of smoking, where there is a clearly known harm to children smok
They become MacGyvers (Score:2, Interesting)
My son turned into MacGyver when we took his phone away after abusing the privilege. He somehow hacked into the neighbor's wifi using cheap used Androids (neighbors probably left factory passwords in). Androids with cracked-but-working screens can be obtained for about $12 on Ebay. He learned to ignore the cracks.
My wife and I worked so couldn't micromanage him during the day, giving him all day to plot around our plans. He reminded me of the prisoners in The Great Escape. The school tried to blame us and t
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
my theory is...the real reason (Score:2)
The teachers are tired of getting videos taken of them
Or just...lock down the smartphone! (Score:2)
Both Google Family Link and Apple's equivalent allow you to drop any apps you want, including social media apps. So if you want a barebones phone, it's quite easy to achieve - and as a bonus, you can incrementally allow more stuff as kids grow.
Why shouldn't my daughters have phones? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
My daughters have phones because people need to be able to contact them, and more importantly, they need to be able to contact us.
No they don't. If someone (who would need to contact a kid at school except their parents?) needs to contact them, they can call the office. If your kids need to contact you, they can go to the office.
What's the proposed solution? Buy "dumb phones"? Have you tried to buy a reasonably working, and reliable dumb phone? My Telecom provider has zero dumb phones, literally zero, I just took a look at the available phones. Since getting a "dumb phone" isn't an option, and leaving my children with no way to contact us, is also not an option, maybe the solution is to not shove your head into your own ass and complain the air stinks.
How about banning cell phones in schools? They still have the option of going to the office to contact you. Why do parents like you feel the need to be able to reach your kids instantly at any time during the school day? Maybe the solution is for you to quit being a helicopter parent or to homeschool your kids
Re: (Score:2)
We have called both schools, plenty of times. We have called the board plenty of times. I've ha
Re: (Score:2)
This guy gets it
Lost causes for $1000 Alex (Score:2)
Teachers and schools need to set rules for school. If the rule at schol is "no phones" as a parent, I will support them. Outside of school is not their business.