Social media debate

On social media, teachers and parents debated whether such a ban was practical and necessary. Many claimed children need phones, especially in case of emergency.

Peter Holmes:

Kids don’t need a smartphone, if they need to make calls for emergency the schools and teachers have phones. My kids would have a basic mobile for calls and texts in case of emergency. They wouldn’t need a smartphone until they’re 15+.

April Dery:

As a teacher in Canada, I find it difficult to get students to stay off their phones during class when they should be listening to the lesson being taught or working on an assignment. Many students are addicted to texting/social media. Phones can be useful for their use as a dictionary or to research info on the internet as computers are not always at our disposal. I often have to take away students’ phones so they will be present in whatever the class activity is.

Sakis Tassoudis:

Why not turn mobile phones to learning tools? Living in the digital age should easily support a BYOD (Bring your own device) program in

schools. Guess the inhibitor is primarily the adjustment of the learning curriculums to reality and the investment needed for this, from the governments.

@tes:

Banning mobile phones isn’t a new thing, it’s more of a ‘turning back the clock’.