Should Mobile Phones Be Banned in Schools?

[00:00:33] Hey guys, welcome back to The Digital Diet Podcast. I’m your host, Marisha Pink, aka The Digital Diet Coach. And it is September, can you believe it? This year is absolutely flying by. It is back to school this week for many kids in the UK. If you’re really lucky, maybe you’ve got an extra week off. And even though I am fully grown now and I don’t have any kids, I always think of September as that back-to-school, new year, reset kind of vibe.

[00:01:02] Which is helpful in some ways because it means you don’t always wait right for January. And actually, normally I’ll have another reset in January. But I guess after so many years of schooling, that September, back to school, fresh start, new year is just sort of ingrained in your memory.

[00:01:18] My nephew is starting school this year and I cannot believe it because I feel like it was just yesterday that he was born. It’s always really emotional for parents when they’re first starting school, or they see them starting high school, moving from junior school, and they’re in their uniforms. You always see this influx of first day of school pictures, and it’s actually kind of heartwarming. I really enjoy seeing all of those snapshots of these milestones for all the kids that are in my life.

[00:01:47] But the return to school might look a little bit different, in England at least, this year. Because back in February of this year, MPs were urging the next government to consider implementing a statutory ban on using mobile phones in school based on a report by the House of Commons Education Committee that looked into the impact that screen time has on children’s education and on their wellbeing.

[00:02:11] Now it wasn’t just the ban that was in the report. There was also suggestions of a total ban on smartphones for under 16s, so you would not be able to sell a smartphone or provide a smartphone contract or anything like that to a child under the age of 16. There’s been discussion about increasing the age threshold for opening a social media account up to the age of 16. It’s 13 on most major platforms, but we will talk a bit more about that as the episode goes on.

[00:02:38] There was discussion about making sure that parental controls were installed on smartphones by default. And also that there were controls in the app stores to prevent children from being able to access content that’s obviously not meant for them and is probably inappropriate.

[00:02:52] And in February, after the report, the government issued guidance to headteachers and school leaders around preventing the use of phones throughout the school day. So that means not just in lessons, but also during break times, during lunch times. And the goal of this was really to try and minimise the disruption that they cause and improve behaviour in classrooms.

[00:03:12] I will link the government’s guidance in the show notes for anyone that’s interested. But alongside these desired benefits for education and wellbeing, the move was meant to bring England into line with steps taken by other countries who also restricted mobile phone use, like France, Italy and Portugal.

[00:03:29] The report suggested that the government implement some formal monitoring to see the impact of this ban. Remember it’s not statutory, it’s not enshrined in law. They wanted to see the impact over the next 12 months and then, if it proved to be ineffective, actually make a move to make it statutory. Make it a law.

[00:03:46] So we still have some months to go before that 12 months is up. And although phones are not banned in school by law currently, and we would have many more steps and many more consultations that would be required before that could happen. Plus we have a new government since that report came out. I guess it begs the question, why make this a law and why now? And is this even the answer to helping improve concentration and focus and wellbeing of kids during the school day?

[00:04:12] And I think some of the statistics might surprise you, because they were definitely a surprise to me. More children have phones than ever before according to Ofcom, which is the UK’s communications regulator. A quarter of 3 and 4 year olds in the UK now owns a smartphone, which is just wild because I’m not really sure what a 3 or a 4 year old needs a smartphone for.

[00:04:34] Nearly all children own a mobile phone by the age of 12, at 97% of those people that were surveyed. And about half of children under 13 are on social media. So despite the platform age restriction being at 13, kids are sneaky, everybody’s finding a way around that and they’re creating accounts, and then obviously being exposed to the content that’s there.

[00:04:55] As you might expect, with an increase in smartphone ownership and smartphone usage comes an increase in screen time. And we’ve seen a 52% increase in children’s screen time from 2020 up to 2022. And although there’s lots of things that a kid could be doing while they’re using a smartphone, or any other digital device for that matter, the findings suggested that 25% of children and young people are using their phones in an addictive manner.

[00:05:21] If you’ve listened to previous episodes of the podcast, then you’ll know how technology companies and device manufacturers have built smartphones, and built social media platforms and all the other things that we find on the internet, in a way that’s designed to make them addictive. It’s designed to increase the amount of time that you spend using them and make you keep going back and using them over and over again. So, this is not really that surprising.

[00:05:45] Naturally, parents are starting to be a bit worried about this. The National Parent Survey from a group called Parentkind revealed that 44% of parents are concerned about the amount of time that their children spend on electronic devices, which rises to 50% of parents if we just look at secondary school-aged children.

[00:06:04] And when it comes to wellbeing, the news isn’t good, much as it isn’t for adults. Screen time is displacing activities which could have a positive impact on children’s wellbeing. Things like social interactions and physical exercise or movement. And by all accounts in schools where they have banned the use of mobile phones, the measures indicate that the children are much happier.

[00:06:26] I think we have to be careful here when we think about technology and screen time as a whole. Because, obviously, during the pandemic, which is obviously a period which recent data is going to cover, technology was a lifeline. That was the only way that kids could continue to receive some form of education when the schools were closed and we were in lockdowns.

[00:06:44] But even as recently as last year, UNESCO was calling for smartphones to be banned in schools. They had a 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report that recommended that technology should only be used in class when it supports learning outcomes, because all the other evidence showed that it was otherwise linked to reduced educational performance, and that the excessive screen time had a negative impact on children’s wellbeing. So it can, and does, have a place. But I think personal smartphones for kids in schools is an entirely different discussion, because most of those kids are not using it to support their learning.

[00:07:17] Another big concern is the increase in risk to child safety and data privacy. 79% of children have encountered violent pornography online before the age of 18, according to research by the Children’s Commissioner for England. 1 in 5 have experienced bullying online. Criminal gangs are using online platforms to recruit children.

[00:07:37] And I don’t say this to scare you, but we all know what the dangers of the internet and social media platforms are for adults. Nevermind children who are still at a stage where particularly younger children may not have developed sufficiently to be able to foresee what those dangers might be, or to be more trusting, intuitively, of the people that they meet online.

[00:07:57] And the issue of data privacy for kids is a really big one, because all these platforms are able to collect personal data or potentially sensitive data about kids from a very young age. So you’re building up that profile from very early on. You’re serving them different content via the algorithms and exposing them to things that, perhaps, they’re not emotionally mature enough to experience or cope with yet. But also may then be shaping the way that they ultimately develop.

[00:08:24] And again, in UNESCO’s report, there was some privacy concerns raised because there are specific applications that are collecting user data that’s not necessary for the applications to work. Currently, only 16% of countries explicitly guarantee data privacy in education by law. One of the analyses that they did found that 89% of 163 education technology products, so remember these are specifically for the purposes of learning, these products that were recommended during the pandemic, were able to survey children and collect data.

[00:08:58] More than that, 39 out of 42 governments that have provided online education during the pandemic fostered uses that risked or infringed on children’s rights. So there’s a level of filtering that needs to be applied, even when we consider the use of technology in the classroom or for educational purposes.

[00:09:17] There are some countries that have gone on to ban the use of specific applications in education settings because of these privacy concerns. Denmark and France have both banned Google Workspace. Germany’s banned Microsoft products in some of its states. And in the United States, we know there’s an ongoing battle, but some schools and universities have also started to ban TikTok. So it’s not as clear cut as just thinking about technology products or technology software that is specifically for learning and education. We need to interrogate those a little bit too.

[00:09:48] By far the biggest argument for banning mobile phones in school concerns the ability to focus and academic performance. 29% of secondary school pupils have reported that mobile phones are being used without permission in most of their lessons. And obviously that means that they’re not focusing on learning, they are distracting themselves, they’re potentially distracting other pupils, and it’s disruptive for everybody in the classroom. Particularly if you imagine that teachers have to keep interrupting their teaching in order to reprimand kids or confiscate mobile devices or tell them off, whatever it happens to be.

[00:10:20] There was a study by The Policy Exchange, which is a centre-right think tank, which found that schools which effectively ban mobile phones actually achieve better GCSE results than those that have more relaxed policies. And we’re talking about 1–2 grades higher on average, so it’s not insignificant. In their study, there was only around 11% of secondary schools that had an effective ban, which they considered to be phones not being allowed on site, or being stored in lockers from the start of the day until the end of the day.

[00:10:48] More than half of the schools in their study banned the use of phones during the school day, but they allowed the students to keep their phones on them. And we’ve already seen what happens if you allow children to keep their phones on them; there’s a stronger temptation for them to use their phones without permission during their lessons.

[00:11:04] 36% of the schools had a partial ban in place, which meant that phones were allowed to be used in some places in some areas of the school or at certain times, but not in others. But either way you look at it, we have the grades being higher, and the schools overall were also more than twice as likely to be rated outstanding by Ofsted than the national average, if they had a mobile phone ban in place.

[00:11:24] So you can see why the government has issued this guidance and they’re encouraging headteachers to impose effective bans, i. e. phones not being allowed on site or being stored away from pupils for the duration of the school day, because we’re trying to look at improving school performance. I understand that there is criticism from parents, there will be complaints from children, there will be others that campaign against this, but I think there is still a real conversation to be had here. There’s definitely something to be gained.

[00:11:50] Teachers can focus on teaching and on supporting learning. And I think if we can make that easier for them, because they already have a very tough time, give those hardworking teachers the tools that they can take action to help improve behaviour in the classroom and allow them to do what they do best, which is to teach.

[00:12:06] Now, as you’ve seen from the study by The Policy Exchange, mobile phone policies can vary wildly from school to school. So another one of the aims of this guidance was to try and bring about consistency. There are many schools around the country that are already prohibiting mobile phone use and it’s having great results. The former Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, at the time the guidance came out, said that this non-statutory government guidance provides “clarity and consistency” for teachers because there’s such “a large variation in how these different schools are managing the use of mobile phones” during the school day.

[00:12:36] And we know that it’s only becoming more and more challenging. Parents and schools are facing an uphill struggle, especially as preteens and teenagers are trying to establish their own identities and assert their independence, of which getting a smartphone is a major milestone. It’s a big part of that. Establishing your online presence once you get to 13, or obviously earlier than that, as some children are doing, is a huge part of that adolescent period. So being told that you’re going to have your phones taken away from you five days a week, for most of the day, you can imagine how much pushback there may be.

[00:13:11] So it does actually make sense that the government would consider doing more to help and guide parents and schools, including radical steps like a total ban. But also to try and make that a consistent approach across the country, if not across the whole of the UK, so that it just becomes the norm rather than the exception. According to the National Parent Survey by Parentkind, more than three quarters of parents do actually support a ban on mobile phones in schools. That is their number one concern. But not everyone agrees.

[00:13:41] The major criticism seems to be whether the focus of regulation and law should be on policing ownership and use of mobile phones in school, or actually looking at the technology companies that create the platforms and create the spaces where children, and ultimately criminals or other people making adult and inappropriate content, are able to interact.

[00:14:00] Ian Russell, who is the Chair of the Molly Rose Foundation and whose 14 year old daughter, Molly, unfortunately took her own life after viewing harmful material on social media, had said that the next government should really concentrate on regulation of tech companies and not on bans, because he thinks that they would deliver “worse outcomes.” He said that “smartphone and social media bans would cause more harm than good, and punish children for the failures of tech companies to protect them,” and that, “the next government must follow the evidence and deliver stronger regulation.”

[00:14:29] That sentiment was echoed by Pepe Di’Iasio, who is the General Secretary for the Association of Schools and College Leaders. He said, “calling for a ban on mobile phones in schools is just treading old ground. Schools already have robust policies in place regarding smartphones… the problem with smartphones relates largely to their use outside of school and this is where issues such as cyberbullying and accessing inappropriate content tend to happen.” He said that, “what we need is to have better regulation of online platforms and improved mental health support for young people who are affected by issues which are exacerbated by smartphones.”

[00:15:02] Now, personally, I don’t think that they’re wrong. I think that we do need to look to tech companies and online platforms to have greater responsibility and accountability for their users, and what happens to them when they’re using these platforms or these tech products. But I don’t actually think that there’s any harm in this double-ended approach. I think that picking a side of the debate to stand on might even be oversimplifying it.

[00:15:25] I say that because, in 2017, there was a young girl called Elena Mondal, who was 14. She was often at the top of her class, and she was very unfortunately found by one of the teachers in The Henrietta Barnett School grounds in Hampstead, after committing suicide by hanging. And Henrietta Barnett is actually the high school that I went to. I have such fond memories of my time at school. It’s a very academic school and the learning environment is great, and it’s very good to learn in. But the thing that I’ve taken away from Henrietta Barnett, or HBS as it’s more affectionately known, is a group of really wonderfully supportive friends.

[00:16:02] I still talk to those friends. I still see those friends. My best friends are still the friends that I made at that school. It’s a pretty small school. It’s not, or at least it wasn’t at the time that I was there, it wasn’t very cliquey. We didn’t really see incidents of bullying. We have the normal things that you would expect to see in a school full of adolescent and preteen girls, but we also didn’t have mobile phones until I think we were around 14 or 15. And when we did, they were just the very simple Nokias where we played Snake. They weren’t smartphones. They could text, they could make calls.

[00:16:33] The iPhone wasn’t introduced until 2007. I’m talking about a time where we used phone booths and phone cards, or you just showed up when you were supposed to be, wherever you were supposed to be. There was no texting to say that you were late and you knew the route to get there.

[00:16:47] And I was reflecting on the story of Elena because it just struck me as so sad, but also having attended that school, and having an understanding of the ethos of the school and the culture of the school, I was so surprised that this had happened. The media reports all suggest that she was a troubled teen, that she was experiencing various mental health challenges, for which she was being assessed and she was receiving counselling and therapy.

[00:17:13] But in the inquest into her death, there was a statement from a psychiatrist at the Hampstead Hospital, Dr. Emily Hallgarten, who said that she believed that Elena was feeling cast aside by her friends after not being included in a Whatsapp group. And that’s the story that I have heard from other alumni of the school, some of which have children or nieces that are, or were, at the school at the time that this unfortunate incident happened.

[00:17:37] So, it’s not just a responsibility of parents. It’s not just the responsibility of schools. It’s not just a responsibility of the tech platforms. There can be this perfect storm of events or challenges that, if we don’t pay close attention, can leave young people really feeling a type of way. And obviously in some cases a type of way that can have quite serious and quite fatal consequences.

[00:18:02] So, I’m not saying that banning phones in schools would have prevented this from happening. But I know having attended that school, what my experiences were, and the way that technology was then and the way that it is now, that wasn’t even something that would have been possible.

[00:18:19] Now, whether you agree with a mobile phone ban or not, it does seem that things will be moving that way. Obviously, the government guidance is encouraging schools to move towards a total ban. And if it doesn’t seem to be effective in a non-statutory capacity, then it may well become law. So, I think the best thing to do is to think about how you can prepare yourself and prepare your children for this change. Especially as they enter the new school year and if they’ve changed schools, or they’re going to school for the first time, or they’re going to high school having moved up from a junior or an infant school.

[00:18:50] The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you are familiar with what the school’s policies and rules are. You should have received an official piece of communication from the school; make sure that you review it. It should be simple and it should be detailed. If you can’t find it, or you don’t think you received it, ask for it.

[00:19:08] I say this because, although the guidance is intended to encourage consistency across the country, the exact way that the guidance is implemented is still currently at the discretion of the school headteacher. So you shouldn’t make any assumptions about what is contained in the policy because it could be no mobile phones on the school premises at all. It could be mobile phones handed in to staff on arrival at school. It could be mobile phones being kept in a secure location, which kids don’t have access to throughout the school day.

[00:19:38] The policy is going to have to reflect whatever the school’s individual context and needs are. That’s the guidance that was given by the government. Whatever the school determines that that is, just needs to be made clear to both pupils and parents. Kids need to understand what the rules are that they need to follow. They need to understand what the consequences will be for breaching the rules. They need to understand the role of staff in implementing the policy and how breaches will be dealt with. But equally, how reasonable adjustments and adaptations can be made for the specific pupils that might need them.

[00:20:11] And whether you agree with this or not, the Department for Education actually backs headteachers to confiscate mobile phones and similar devices for the length of time that they deem appropriate, which is subjective. So you need to be aware of what the rules and policies are, because you need to know and be able to have a discussion if you think that this is going to be a problem, or if it’s something that you are not comfortable with.

[00:20:32] For example, if a headteacher decides to confiscate a phone and not return it to the pupil until the next day, but the child is travelling to and from school alone and you rely on them having that phone to be able to contact you or to be able to call you when they get to the bus stop to come and collect them. That’s going to present a problem. But you can only deal with that if you know that this is something that you need to make an adjustment for upfront.

[00:20:55] So make sure that you review and you read the policy. Ask questions about anything that’s not clear or anything that you’re unsure about. And also make sure that you understand what is going to happen outside of a normal school day. Because most of the guidance, and most of the policies that have been issued in response, have focused solely on what happens during school hours.

[00:21:15] So questions could be anything like, who do you contact if you need to get hold of your child during the day and you have previously been used to sending them a message? It’s more than likely that you will be directed to contact the school office, or the equivalent if there’s a specific officer in the school’s teaching staff. But you need to know that that is what you’re supposed to do. You need to have the number, and you need to save the number in your own phone.

[00:21:37] You need to know what happens on school trips. Schools have been advised that they should determine how they want to manage the use of mobile phones on residential trips, or just trips outside of the normal school day. The goal here is the same. Schools are trying to make sure that the educational experience of a trip is not disrupted by the presence of a mobile phone.

[00:21:56] They might still consider prohibiting or restricting their use, but obviously if your kid is not at their normal place of schooling, you may have additional questions or additional concerns that you need to be reassured and feel comfortable that your child will not be using their mobile phone, or have access to it while they’re off site.

[00:22:11] And although it’s outside of the school day, what happens on the way to and from school is also often a concern or a responsibility of the school because the kids are wearing the uniform of that school and represent the school, whenever they’re travelling on local transport. The Department for Education has advised schools to liaise with local authorities in order to promote good behaviour on school transport, like school buses or just alternative school transport, like school coaches or on public transport.

[00:22:39] Whilst that is technically outside of the school day and we would want good behaviour, irrespective of whether a mobile phone was there or not, some of that policy might include developing expectations and restrictions around the way that kids use mobile phones on these modes of transport. So make sure you familiarise yourself with the policy. Make sure you ask questions about the things that you’re not sure about. And then consider whether your child requires any adjustments and talk to the school. Because no two kids are the same.

[00:23:08] If you’re the parent of a child who has a medical condition or a disability. If your child is neurodiverse. Or frankly for any other reason why you might believe that the policy outlined by your school won’t work for your child, in full or in part, then you need to have that conversation. Schools do have a legal duty to support pupils that have medical conditions and to also take reasonable steps to avoid disadvantaging disabled pupils because of the school’s own policies or practices, including on mobile phones.

[00:23:39] You have every right to expect that the school will assess each case for adjustments and adaptations on its own merits. So don’t be put off if you have a parent that you know, in a similar situation, who has had whatever adjustments or adaptations that they’ve requested declined, because each case has to be dealt with on its own merits.

[00:23:58] Try to keep in mind also that the goal for everyone here is to improve children’s wellbeing and create a focused environment for learning. The goal isn’t to distress children or to put their health and safety at risk, and the school should be trying to work with you to ensure that that remains the case. But the only way they can do that is if you talk to them.

[00:24:17] After you’ve talked to the school, whether it’s to ask questions or to talk about adaptations or adjustments, you need to talk to your kids. And this is something that you should be doing anyway, as soon as kids have access to digital devices, whether it’s the family iPad, or it’s the time where they’re receiving their first mobile phone that’s going to be theirs. But particularly now with the rules changing in many places, and if they’re going into a new school, or the school’s not previously implemented a mobile phone policy, you need to make sure that they are aware of the changes and you need to have a conversation with them.

[00:24:49] Let’s be honest, kids aren’t going to like it, period. As we’ve already talked about, mobile phones are synonymous with a part of their identity, it’s part of them asserting and gaining their independence, and it represents something that allows them to connect with their peers. So being told that they now are the proud owner of a mobile phone, but they can’t use it for most of their day, is probably not going to sit well.

[00:25:12] And that means that that transition requires really careful management for them to understand what’s happening, but also to try and keep them out of trouble. Both in terms of falling foul of the school rules and ultimately being reprimanded for it, but also for their own personal safety. Because, as we know, there are many dangers associated with the online platforms, the internet, that unsupervised use of smartphones may expose your children to.

[00:25:37] And it’s really two buckets that this conversation falls into. You need to discuss the details of the policy and make sure that your kid understands the rules and the ramifications of breaking them, and also understand that these rules will be supported by you. Children need to know that you also know the rules. Because, let’s be honest, some kids will try and pull a fast one and pull the wool over your eyes, and pretend that the rules are one thing when they’re actually something else.

[00:26:03] Children need to understand the consequences because they will be a bit sneaky. I was watching something the other day and if prisoners can get mobile phones into prisons, then it’s definitely not hard for a kid to get it into school. And, as we know, kids are using them in schools where there are bans in place and at times they’re not supposed to be using them. So, if kids are going to test the boundaries and not follow a policy, they need to understand what the consequences will be. And they also need to know that you are supporting the initiative and you support the consequences of them breaking the rules.

[00:26:33] This is essentially about creating a united front. There can’t be a situation where kids believe that somehow parental authority will trump school authority because it will undermine everything for everyone. So if a kid has their mobile phone confiscated by a teacher, they can’t feel that they will be able to come home and say, “Well, the teacher’s confiscated it,” and you’re going to go and get it back for them. Everybody needs to be on the same page and that’s why having your own understanding of the policy, and talking to the school before talking to your kid, is so important.

[00:27:03] Kids also need to know if they themselves are an exception to the policies. So if, for any reason, you need to have adjustments made or adaptations, they do need to understand that those adaptations have been made specifically for them, and why. And that they need to still respect the rules for the benefit of the other children, and that those rules might look a little bit different to other children around them, and what that might mean for them.

[00:27:26] I think that it will help if you try and put as positive a spin on it as you possibly can. Kids are going to naturally focus on the negative aspects of now not being able to use their phone, and you need to try and impress upon them that there are benefits to this reduced screen time in school. So, better focus is probably not going to land that well, because they more than likely think that they can focus just fine.

[00:27:48] But what about better grades? Some children will be motivated by the fact that not having access to their phone is likely to lead to them performing better, and therefore having whatever rewards are connected with achieving higher grades in an academic capacity. They need to think about having more time to connect with their friends and their peers in real time. You might be taking away their access to a WhatsApp group where they can talk to people, but you’re not taking away their ability to talk to their friends face-to-face in the playground.

[00:28:16] The same goes for physical movement and less eye strain, which is good for their health and wellbeing. And certainly younger generations are starting to have a much bigger focus on health and wellbeing. Certainly a greater awareness of health and wellbeing, and health and wellbeing being much more trendy than it ever was when I was growing up. And then it’s probably worth having a general refresher for safety and review the parental controls that you do have set up on their devices, for when they do have access to them.

[00:28:43] Next, I would probably think about reviewing your approach to digital devices and mobile phones in your own home. Because what you don’t want to see is that a lack of access and a lack of use of smartphones at school, ends up driving up the use of those devices by your children at home. It’s kind of a bit like a diet.

[00:29:02] You know if you’ve been starving yourself of carbs or cakes or whatever it might be for weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and weeks. And then, as soon as you get to the end of that, or you go to your holiday, you suddenly start stuffing your face because you haven’t been able to eat them. And then you overdo it. Probably you wouldn’t have overdone it, if you hadn’t been in a period of restriction before that.

[00:29:22] So it’s kind of the same thing. You want to try and manage expectations around use, so that use remains reasonable and obviously offers all of the wellbeing benefits that are associated with moderate use of smartphones and digital technologies. So that could look like just being really clear about the screen time rules that you have at home. You might want to consider extending that ban by a few hours after school to let kids have time to complete their homework in a focused manner, for example.

[00:29:51] You might think about banning phones at the dinner table or banning them after a certain time in the evening, or after a certain number of hours, which you can set up with the parental controls. It’s about whatever works for you and your family, but you can, again, put a positive spin on this. So, not just about not being able to use the phone, but encourage kids to explore alternative activities. Explore other hobbies and sports. Creative pursuits that don’t involve screens. Help kids to find new interests that can keep them engaged and reduce their reliance on smartphones.

[00:30:25] And of course, you need to be a good role model yourself. One of the biggest things that kids will fire back when their screen time is restricted, or they have their phones taken away from them, is basically, “Well, you’re always on your phone. You’re always doing it.” And it doesn’t matter whether you are using your phone in a social capacity, maybe you’re browsing Instagram, or you are using it in a work capacity and you’re still responding to emails. Kids pick up on all of these things and you’re modelling behaviours that you’re asking them not to exhibit.

[00:30:54] So you can be a good role model by everybody putting their phones away at the dinner table, for example. Or if the rule is that you’re not going to use a phone after a certain time at night, everybody needs to do that. And that will help create an atmosphere in the home that everything is equitable and fair, and prioritises wellbeing over the use of technology.

[00:31:13] Last but not least, I would really encourage you to see how it’s working and give feedback to the school. The mobile phone ban is not law and, for many parents and many schools, this is going to be the first time that bans are being implemented. As I’ve already said, if it’s not effective within 12 months, there will be a push for it to become law. So, it’s in everyone’s interests to make sure that it’s working and achieving what it’s set out to do, at a time when you still have an ability to shape what the policy might look like in practice.

[00:31:43] Give feedback to your child’s teacher, whoever is the responsible staff, or maybe even if you have a class rep that might be another parent. Provide that feedback, share with them what’s working, what’s not working; nothing is currently set in stone. And that will help to ensure that those policies are balanced and that they consider both the educational and the wellbeing needs of the kids, but also the practical realities of having a mobile phone and being a kid.

[00:32:09] And as I’ve already said, banning mobile phones in schools isn’t a magic bullet. It’s not going to eliminate all of the online harms. So it shouldn’t mean that schools stop being mindful of their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children that are in their care. Schools still need to remain hyper vigilant to all of the risks relating to online safety, and make sure that online safety is reflected in all the other appropriate school policies that they have. But they can’t do it alone. So parents, you need to make sure that you’re also staying on top of this.

[00:32:40] I hope that that was helpful, if you are entering the new school year with a mobile phone ban in your child’s school. This week’s challenge is another one for the mums. Your challenge this week is to review your child’s school mobile phone policy and make a list of any questions that you have. And that will get the ball rolling through all the other steps that I’ve discussed in the episode today.

[00:33:03] I’d be really, really keen to hear about what you found when you reviewed the policy. What kinds of questions came up? What things have not been so clear or have been maybe less comfortable for you as a parent? I’d love to try and get a sense of what is happening on the ground in the schools.

[00:33:20] So the place to let me know about your policies and the questions that you had is in The Digital Diet Lounge, which is my dedicated community space for all things digital wellness and women. I will put a link to it in the show notes, so that you can find it nice and easily, and I look forward to seeing you in there.

[00:33:36] If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, then please subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you’re listening on. If you’re on Apple, if you’re on Spotify. And you can leave questions on Spotify now, which is very exciting. So feel free to leave me a question there. And obviously you can also rate and review the podcast too.

[00:33:53] The ratings and the reviews really help. They help other people to find the podcast and find all of these practical, actionable tips that I’m putting out to try and help more women live a balanced life with good technology habits. So, please take the time to subscribe and write and review the podcast, when you have a moment.

[00:34:11] The show notes for today’s episode can be found over on my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com/031. And you’ll also find there links to all the other episodes that we’ve had. This is Episode 31, in case you couldn’t tell by the URL. So there’s a good chunk there, especially if you’re new around here or you missed a couple of episodes. There’s some really great stuff covering loads and loads of different digital wellness topics, and I hope that you will find something interesting.

[00:34:39] I know that you’re busy and your time is incredibly valuable. So I appreciate you being here and I thank you for choosing to spend a little bit of your day with me. And I’ll see you on the next episode.