BLOGS PODS #20 - Banning Smartphones for Kids: The Case for Trying
INTRODUCTION
The influence of smartphones on children’s development, learning and safety is increasingly concerning. Lots of the cases I hear about in my forensic work have a digital element whereby the child’s safety is in some way under threat - or has been long since compromised - in some way that involves phones.
Research and expert insights suggest that unrestricted smartphone use by young people negatively impacts their education, social growth and general security.
This post attempts to lay out my current thinking (it’s evolving!) on why banning or at least limiting smartphone use for children under 16 is not just beneficial but essential for their well-being.
I want to suggest 3 main reasons for this, plus some additional thoughts in respect of particularly vulnerable children. Lastly, as always, I want to think a little about how we as practitioners with troubled kids can help.
1. Improving Educational Focus and Outcomes
Smartphones are a significant distraction in the classroom. Talking to a good friend last weekend - she’s an assistant head in a large inner city high school - it was clear what her view was…
‘Ban them tomorrow and school would be a much better place. Learning would be better, friendships would be better - they’d be so much more able to just be kids!’
That’s clear then.
Evidence shows that when children have unrestricted access to phones, their attention span and ability to focus on schoolwork diminish considerably. In England, around 29% of secondary pupils report using their phones inappropriately during lessons. Schools that have already banned phones report immediate improvements, including better classroom behaviour and an environment more conducive to learning (1)
Countries such as France and Italy have implemented similar bans with measurable success, leading to calmer classrooms and improved academic performance. China has restrictions in place already and the Dutch are expected to do the same imminently.
UNESCO (the UN’s educational, scientific and cultural body) has highlighted that restricting smartphone access is linked to higher educational achievements and reductions in classroom disruption.
* My view: have a total ban on smartphones for kids till they finish their statutory education. If that’s too much, start with a ban in schools, evaluate the outcomes thoroughly and adapt from there.
* Statistic: By the age of 12, 97% of children in the UK own a mobile phone, showing that a majority of kids have constant access which can interfere with learning (1).
* Read More: UNESCO General Secretary supports a ban on mobile phones in school
2. Enhancing Social Development
Excessive smartphone use disrupts children’s social development, interrupting critical play during the formative years. Without phones, children are more likely to engage face-to-face with each other and with adults, thus developing vital attachments, communication skills and emotional learning.
Schools that have banned phones have noticed increased participation in physical activities, group interactions and social engagement among pupils.
A study from ParentKind found that 44% of parents are concerned about the impact of their children’s phone usage, particularly on their ability to form meaningful relationships. Half of families argue regularly about how much time their children spend on screens and the average screen time per day for a child is 3.3 hours - some spend more time online than in school (3, p.3-4).
Minimising screen time would help children to play more, to develop stronger interpersonal skills and would all but eradicate online bullying. Without screens, a kid getting bullied in school can walk away from it at the end of the day, instead of carrying it home in their pocket!
* My view: We need a massive public education campaign about the dangers of smartphone and other screen use for children. Wise parents will refuse their kids a phone until high school or, at the very least, restrict the time spent and the content they can access. If kids weren’t on their screens for over 3 hours a day, they’d be doing other things - probably things that are perfectly safe and much more beneficial to a balanced development. We should do whatever we can to seize back this time while they’re still kids.
* Statistic: 50% of parents with secondary-aged children worry about the effects of excessive phone usage on their children’s social skills.
* Read More: ParentKind National Parent Survey 2024.
3. Protecting Children from Online Risks
Notwithstanding it’s myriad delights the internet, and the device inter-connectivity it brings, presents a pantheon of threats for kids, including exposure to age-inappropriate content, contact with dangerous people and cyberbullying - to name the obvious ones.
Limiting smartphone use for children ensures that they are shielded from these dangers while their digital skills and understanding of online safety are developed under supervision - ideally through a mix of education at school and at home.
The UK government has introduced measures to restrict phone use in schools, aligning with its broader strategy to make the UK a safer digital environment for children (4). This step reflects the commitment to safeguarding young people and ensuring they learn about digital safety in a controlled context.
While lots of kids say they don’t see upsetting things online and haven’t been threatened, bullied or contacted by dodgy people (5), plenty have. Isn’t it better to ur on the safe side and relax things later, than do too little and risk more victims?
* My view: Give kids a brick phone to use, if you have to. They can call home or contact friends on that. Then proactively teach them the joys of the online world and it’s myriad benefits in a safe way. When they’re older (like around 16 or 17?) give them a smartphone.
* Statistic: In a recent survey, 16% of young adults in the USA said they had been sexually harmed online before the age of 18 (7) - that’s 8 out of every 50 children!
* Read More: UK Government guidance for schools in England on mobile phone use
A word about sexual images
May be this will be another post at a later date, but I wanted to mention the growing issue of sexual images being used coercively or to harm - this is something that crops up quite a bit in my work in forensics and the HSB field.
Among the things happening to young people (more teenagers than prepubescent kids) are:
* Non-consensual sharing of sexual images (sometimes called non-consensual sexting or revenge porn) usually by other young people, though not always
* Non-consensual taking of sexual images (sometimes called up-skirting)
* Non-consensual making of sexual images (where someone uses a ‘base’ photo and then creates a sexual image or deepfake from it)
* Threats, force or pressure to provide sexual images
* Threats to share sexual images
* Commercial sexual exploitation - where kids are convinced or coerced into providing images for sale on websites or elsewhere
To read more on this see the Turner et al paper cited below (6). Suffice to say, though, that any of these is a shocking betrayal of childhood that can only occur due to the widespread, usually unsupervised, use of powerful digital technology by children and young people.
If you want a good reason to limit mobile phone use for children, here are six of them.
Additional Benefits for Vulnerable Children
While a smartphone ban benefits all children, it is particularly vital for those who have experienced trauma, such as children in care, those who are exploited or those without protective adults. These children often lack guidance in navigating the digital world safely and face higher risks of harm due to their impaired development; things like:
* The need for attention and affection
* Struggles with differentiating love and sex, and
* An undirected yearning for connection
For children in care, smartphones may be their only connection to the outside world. However, without adequate supervision, these devices become a gateway for online grooming, bullying and other dangers. Restricting smartphone access allows caregivers and professionals to establish a relationship of trust, gradually teaching safe technology use while providing the needed protection of trusted adults - a crucial template for kids to take forward once they leave the system and begin to live more independently.
Children who have suffered exploitation are also more likely to be targeted through their phones. By controlling access until they have received appropriate digital safety training and the maturity to use it, we reduce these risks and offer them a more secure environment to recover and grow.
How Practitioners Can Support Families and Young People
Professionals working with troubled children, such as social workers, educators, and foster carers, play a critical role in balancing technology use.
Here are some strategies practitioners can recommend (as always, not remotely an exhaustive list, just a few thoughts on how we can encourage safety for kids in the digital world):
* Set Boundaries: Encourage families to establish clear limits on smartphone use, such as no devices during mealtimes, before bed or while doing homework. Children respond well to routines that are consistent and predictable - so encouraging parents to set boundaries and stick to them is important.
* Promote Digital Literacy: Offer workshops or one-on-one sessions that teach children and families about online safety, including how to spot inappropriate behaviour and how to protect personal information. Or, more straight forwardly, have a list of tips and resources families can access for help with this stuff.
* Encourage Offline Activities: Encourage engaging offline hobbies like sports, art, reading, youth groups or clubs and other community activities to shift focus away from screens. It may seem old-fashioned but most areas are still not that far from a local cub scout or guiding group - these provide a vast range of opportunities in a regular and structured setting where friendships and offline activities can flourish.
* Use Parental Controls: Advise parents and carers to use parental control software to monitor and limit internet access. This helps keep children safe while they learn how to navigate the digital world responsibly. Encourage them to frequently monitor their kid’s phone - central to this is the insistence that you always know the PIN, unlock code or password, so you can get in without warning (I used to remove the phone when the kids were distracted or asleep for checks like this).
* Model Positive Behaviour: Practitioners should model balanced smartphone use themselves, showing children that devices are tools, not central to social or emotional life. Encouraging parents to do the same will help them model good use of technology.
By implementing measures like these, we can guide families in creating healthier smartphone habits, ensuring that young people gain the benefits of technology while hopefully avoiding the risks.
Policy Recommendations
The House of Commons Education Committee has suggested several measures to address the concerns surrounding smartphone use among children. These include:
* A potential ban on selling smartphones to under-16s.
* Default installation of parental controls on phones.
* Stricter controls in app stores to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.
* A statutory ban on mobile phone use in schools.
* A consultation on raising the minimum age for social media accounts to 16 (1, 4).
FINAL THOUGHTS
I realise that in writing this as an old giffer my views might seem anachronistic, and I know that my argument isn’t terribly well-thought-through. Not least around the specifics of any ban and how it would be implemented and policed.
Despite all this, I think there’s some real merit in some of these ideas.
Whatever your view, and whatever the challenges of actually making something happen on the ground in the real world, I think there’s one thing we must absolutely not do - and that’s nothing!
I love my tech and wouldn’t want to be without it. But putting all that power in the pocket of a child is just stupid and I think it’s time we did something about it.
See you in the next one.
References
* (1) Feb 2024 UK Government press release (link)
* (2) UNESCO calls for ban on mobile phones in school (link)
* (3) ParentKind - The National Parent Survey 2024 (link)
* (4) UK Government guidance on banning mobile phone use at school (link)
* (5) For a contrary view, read Prof. Andy Phippen’s article for The Conversation (link)
* (6) Turner et al (2024) Contexts and Characteristics of Imaged-Based Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children: Incident Dynamics in a National Sample Child Maltreatment, Vol.0(0) 1-14. DOI: 10.1177/10775595241233970
* (7) Key Messages from Research - on harmful sexual behaviour in online contexts - from the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (link)
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©️ Jonny Matthew 2024
