Teachers Urge Parents Not To Buy Children Smartphones (bbc.com)
- Reference: 0178318738
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/07/09/1443248/teachers-urge-parents-not-to-buy-children-smartphones
- Source link: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyxggv9j9zo
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.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyxggv9j9zo
Ship's sailed on that one (Score:2)
The advisory feels about as effective as moving clouds by yelling at them.
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:2)
Pencil, paper, and a calculator. are STILL cheaper than a smartphone.
Lines up with recommendations by Jonathan Haidt (Score:3)
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.
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:4, 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)
Why does a student need GPS, does the school keep moving? Even if it does all they need is to find the local school bus stop - buses are still a thing even though we waste SUV sized tanks of gas so each student can be chauffeured twice a day by their parents.
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
its the additive apps (Score:2)
> 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:1)
I guess she never told you about her burner phone, eh?
Re: (Score:2)
My oldest is 14, so the cake isn't baked yet, but I agree with you that parenting makes a big difference. We limit phone time and keep the phone in our room at night. Sites and contacts are limited. No discord, facebook, etc...
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.