{"id":27747,"date":"2019-09-10T15:38:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T14:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=27747"},"modified":"2019-09-10T15:38:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T14:38:35","slug":"back-to-school-without-your-smartphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/back-to-school-without-your-smartphone\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to school, without your smartphone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At what age do you buy your child their first smartphone? It\u2019s a question that troubles almost all parents, aware that we face losing them to the lure of social media in their pocket, not to mention worrying about the potential risks it can pose\u00a0to their mental health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The concerns will soon return to being one for teachers too, as the ending of the summer holidays brings young people back to their classrooms, often with smartphones on hand to distract and disrupt. According to\u00a0Nominet research<\/a>, secondary school teachers lose an average of 11 teaching days to social media and smartphone disruption every year, with half of teachers saying social media contributes to students achieving lower grades than they could.<\/p>\n

It has now been\u00a0more than a year since the French Government<\/a>\u00a0banned children up to the age of 15 from bringing their mobile phones to school or having them on during the school day. In February, the minister for school standards\u00a0Nick Gibb said<\/a>\u00a0he believed schools in the UK should enforce a similar ban, and there is a\u00a0\u2018Phone-Free Schools\u2019 campaign<\/a>\u00a0currently running, backed by representatives from 120 schools. Interestingly, our children don\u2019t seem to think\u00a0it\u2019s such a bad idea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nominet\u2019s most\u00a0recent research<\/a>\u00a0into the attitudes of young people (aged 11-24) towards technology found that 60% of those aged 18-24 think there should be a national policy limiting access to smartphones and social media in schools. This is driven by their awareness of the potential damage that social media can cause; almost seven in ten (68%) believe there should be lessons on appropriate use of social media and online behaviour added into the national curriculum (encouragingly, this is already\u00a0in progress<\/a>).<\/p>\n

For all those who have been sceptical about the attitude of young people towards digital responsibility and risk awareness up to now, these statistics may be surprising but incredibly welcome. And it doesn\u2019t end there \u2013 our report also found that young people today are largely aware of the wider societal damage that technology can cause beyond their own mental health.<\/p>\n

Over half (58%) of the older group (18-24-year olds) worry technology is destroying the art of conversation while 63% are concerned that children will become loners due to screen addiction. There are also worries across the whole age group that social media is increasing social and political divisions in society (55%) and driving fake news (74%).<\/p>\n

The concerns of young people are prompting their support for increasing restrictions and controls, yet doesn\u2019t prevent them feeling positive about the influence of technology on their lives. More than three quarters of the young people asked said technology has helped them in all areas of their lives. The youngest segment, 11-17 year olds, are the most optimistic; 81% say technology has a positive effect and 69% of them expecting it to create job opportunities for them, as likely it will.<\/p>\n

These findings are hugely encouraging and should calm some of the parental worries about a life lived online. Even if you don\u2019t have children of your own, there is a reassurance in knowing that the future workforce is thinking in the right way about technology and recognising the potential harm, from an early age.<\/p>\n

That said, we must continue to support their learning as they adjust to an adult digital world. Does this start with a school smartphone ban? This is more complicated that we like to think;\u00a0Nominet research<\/a>\u00a0found that while 83% of teachers say their schools have social media\/device policies in place, almost half say they are difficult to enforce.<\/p>\n

There are also the teachers that\u00a0use students\u2019 devices as teaching tools<\/a>, sometimes because the school lacks the resources for tablets and computers. Others call for an inclusion of smartphones at schools because the learning environment needs to reflect the world in which they will work and live \u2013 complete with devices demanding attention.<\/p>\n

It may end up being a choice made by each school themselves \u2013 as former education secretary\u00a0Damian Hinds suggested<\/a>\u00a0in February \u2013 and there are many secondary schools already introducing their own bans. However, a top London headteacher, Stephen Lehec, added\u00a0his voice to the debate<\/a>in March, suggesting that a blanket ban was \u201cdoomed to failure\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is a question with no easy answers, like many of the issues thrown up by evolving technology and our rapidly changing world. For now, we should be proud of the young people we are creating and continue to invest time and energy in preparing them for the digital future that awaits. We can\u2019t remove technology from their lives \u2013 nor deny them their own smartphone forever \u2013 but we can do our best to support their growth and educate them on how to use their devices safely and securely.<\/p>\n

See our\u00a0Back to School Digital Futures report<\/a>\u00a0here.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Originally published here<\/a>.<\/p>\nMore thought leadership <\/i><\/a><\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At what age do you buy your child their first smartphone? It\u2019s a question that troubles almost all parents, aware that we face losing them to the lure of social media in their pocket, not to mention worrying about the potential risks it can pose\u00a0to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":27748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-tech-for-good"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBack to school, without your smartphone? | Digital Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At what age do you buy your child their first smartphone? 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