Secondary schools begin banning mobile phones

[Martin-O2]

Hey everyone, 

Some interesting mobile news this week where secondary schools in the UK are beginning to ban mobile phones. The bans are not restricted to the classrooms with pupils expected to had in their phones in the morning and not getting them back until the end of the school day. 

A study by Harvard Business Review found that even if a mobile is in your pocket it's still a distraction and those in the study who switched off their phones and left them in another room had “statistically significant” improvements in concentration and cognitive ability. 

Latymer Upper school in west London has banned mobiles for all children up to the end of their GCSE year and have found the effect very positive with pupils playing outside and socialising with each other more then before! 

What are your thoughts on banning mobiles during the entire school day? Do you think it's overkill or a good step forward? 

Do you have any mobile bans at home such as during meal times? Let us know! 

[gmarkj]

As a parent of a 6 year old daughter, there is no need for her to have a phone right now.
While she is at school if we need to get in touch we phone the school.
Outside of school she is with someone that will have a phone should we need to speak to her, or the person she is with.
That being said, I am dreading the start of the "he/she has one so I need one" conversations...

[Glory1]

@gmarkj I don't envy you or any parent with young children today. You think that 'keeping up with the jones's' is an adult thing but regretably it starts when you're young nowadays. And you will undoubtedly have that conversation with your daughter. I wish you the best of luck on saying no, and sticking to it.

[MI5]

Me too 

[Martin-O2]

I agree the whole getting in contact reason doesn't apply when in school. As long as the phone is returned at the end of the day that's not a good reason. 

Ohh best of luck @gmarkj! I would imagine it's only going to get worse as she gets older. 

[Anonymous]

Hoestly banning phones aint gonna do anything when classes are going technology front to teach tho.

I used my phone to save another students life while in school, While out of sight and out of mind a mobile phone is always handy even in school.

tho this banning is a good idea of things but students will still have there ways not always by phone instead share stuff via pc etc. 

I don't see an issue of having a phone in school or classs really just depends on use of it. 

Tho lets ban coffees an teas and loo breaks and lunch for all that work haha rebel against the system. 

I worked better in college with my phone and music than without it. 

Funny if Gov or Higher powers say screw it Ban the interent full stop now i'll be laughing with a bottle of vadka in my hand an say the worlds gone nuts. 

[jonsie]

Words of wisdom @Anonymous 😉

[-Ben-]

At secondary school mobile phones were banned for us, and nobody even thought about using them until the end of the day. It is perfectly reasonable for a school to ban them.

But, at college (where we were allowed our phones) we used our phones for educational purposes. My economics teacher used an app called Kahoot and it tested our knowledge and helped ensure that we revised so that we could win, as the app created competition. It was one of the most useful ways to revise for me.

The issue arises because students will use them for non educational reasons, which will most definitely impact their concentration, grades etc.

[Cleoriff]

---

@-Ben- wrote:
At secondary school mobile phones were banned for us, and nobody even thought about using them until the end of the day. It is perfectly reasonable for a school to ban them.

But, at college (where we were allowed our phones) we used our phones for educational purposes. My economics teacher used an app called Kahoot and it tested our knowledge and helped ensure that we revised so that we could win, as the app created competition. It was one of the most useful ways to revise for me.

The issue arises because students will use them for non educational reasons, which will most definitely impact their concentration, grades etc.

---

I honestly had no idea they would be used for educational purposes @-Ben-.

I note you said 'in college' so I presume you were 17/18 at the time? If so, that's perfectly acceptable.

There's a world of difference in the situation you outlined against allowing them into primary and secondary schools though

[-Ben-]

I agree with primary schools and secondary schools for the most part too @Cleoriff. It's just unfortunate because they have such potential to be used in a creative and educational way. Students would only take advantage of being able to keep their phones on them, to keep up to date with the latest Facebook's or latest messages from their friends.

[Martin-O2]

@-Ben- did your secondary school physically take the phones off you or just ban their use during the school day?