Western Morning News (Saturday)
Technology is mixed blessing for our kids
S‘We’ve found that since lockdown, when pupils were forced to work from screens at home, they’re really quite relieved not to have a phone around during the day now they’re back at school’ MICHAEL SLOAN
HOULD pupils have mobile phones in schools or not? Last summer, the education secretary Gavin Williamson said that English schools would be mobile phonefree zones. Recently they changed their minds and said it was up to head teachers to control usage.
I recently talked to Michael Sloan, deputy head of Brighton College, a private school in Sussex. Five years ago his school made news when it took the brave step of banning mobile phones during the school day. “The move was made after consultation with parents,” said Mr Sloan. “We thought that pupils would benefit from the ban, but had no idea how much.”
The passing years have shown the move, for them, has paid off. “Now students don’t rely on phones in their spare time. We have Scrabble clubs and other games groups,” he added. “They are hungry for books and we have a ‘drop everything and read’ time during each day and that has a big knock-on effect for their writing and expression.”
Mr Sloan says that the attention span of pupils has improved enormously. “They’re not distracted, they enjoy learning more, they concentrate and are fully focused and attentive in class. It has had a positive effect on their mental health too.
“We’ve found that since lockdown, when pupils were forced to work from screens at home, they’re really quite relieved not to have a phone around during the day now they’re back at school”.
State schools may have a different story. Budgets for board games and the staff to monitor such activities need to be found. Many teachers would argue with Mr Sloan, suggesting that lots of children interact well due to multi-player games, suggesting withdrawn pupils have shown to be helped by, among other things, dancing to TikTok choreography during free time.
Research now shows that curtailing phone time for younger pupils may build good habits.
In Britain, the average 18-year-old teenager will have spent three and a half full years of 24-hour days just on recreational screen time, excluding homework and revision times. When that generation reaches 85, the average person will have spent 20 years of 24-hour days just on recreational screen time – almost a quarter of their life.
High levels of screen time are now recognised as a health issue with strong links to mental and physical health risks. American psychologist
Dr Aric Sigman is a health education and PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) lecturer to pupils, parents and staff and has published many papers on PSHE. He says: “Excessive screen time is also now linked with lower school grades, changes in brain structure and function and screen dependency problems, among other medical concerns.”
There’s a similarity between behavioural addiction and mobile phone addiction. New terminology includes nomophobia: the fear of going without your phone. Textaphrenia: the fear of not sending or receiving texts. Phantom vibrations: sensing your phone is alerting you when it isn’t.
The feel-good chemical dopamine is triggered in rewarding situations.
Because so many people use their phones as a way to connecting with friends, that social interaction stimulates the release of dopamine. Reports in the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says “phone users become accustomed to constantly checking their phones because their brains send out a dopamine hit. Some apps even withhold and release social reinforcements, such as likes and comments, so we receive them in an unpredictable pattern. When we can’t predict the pattern, we check our phones more often and use can become compelling and sometimes causes anxiety.”
With children, the concern is not whether they should or shouldn’t use mobile phones but the overuse, misuse and premature use of screens. Kids under two are less likely to interact with their parents, and can develop behavioural problems and attention span issues.
Children who use mobile phones or other screens have a high risk of diabetes, and their inactivity causes weight problems. They’re also less involved with activities such as sport, creative hobbies and interactive pastimes. The World Health Organisation recently issued screen time recommendations – nothing for ages 0-2 years and, from the ages of 2-17 for non-school work, no more than two hours a day.
Michael Sloan would, I’m sure, agree. “When we introduced the system, our focus was to get pupils to enjoy their studies, to learn to be the best they can possibly be, individuals not governed by phones, and our strategy has paid off,” he said. “Concentration, attentiveness, an appreciation of reading, the stimulation of playing board games, sports – they’re not constantly distracted and are much more mindful of the world around them.”
The ‘no phone’ routine for Brighton College students also reflects on better exam results, so it’s an overall win-win situation for their staff pupils and families alike.
Some educationalists might not agree, arguing that schools have evolved so much since March 2020 and the genie is out of the bottle where technology is concerned. Many educational features have moved on post-lockdown. Phone apps allow pupils to order meals without having to queue, online timetables are less likely to be lost. Most schools have a “see it, lose it” approach to pupils with mobile phones. Only time will tell if that’s enough to stop children becoming addicted. I have my doubts.