National backing for smartphone ban in class

SECONDARY schools are introducing strict new bans on mobile phones where all pupils aged up to 16 have to lock them away for the entire day, after evidence that it makes children more sociable, alert and active.

From September, pupils aged 11 to 16 who own phones will be required either to hand them in or put them in their lockers when they arrive for registration and only get them back when they leave in the afternoon.

The change in approach coincides with an appeal last week by Matthew Hancock, Culture Secretary, in The Daily Telegraph for schools to ban smartphones during the school day.

The Latymer School in north London said its ban on mobile phones for pupils aged 11 to 13 had been “incredibly positive” with an increase in children playing outside, attending clubs and societies, and socialising with each other.

Matthew Chataway, assistant head, said: “It’s not a question of taking a device away from students, but rather giving them back time, the opportunity to try new activities and the chance to take a break from social media.”

Tanya Goodin, founder of digital health consultancy Time to Log Off, said 70 per cent of the 100 schools she advised on tech-detoxing had or were introducing bans on mobile phone use.

The phenomenal pull of mobile phones has been demonstrated in a study by Harvard Business Review which found people’s concentration could be disrupted even by the presence of a switched-off phone on their desks.

“The mere presence of our smartphones is like the sound of our names – they are constantly calling to us, exerting a gravitational pull on our attention,” it said.