The Department of Education recently launched a guide for parents and parents' associations who wish to engage with their school communities regarding internet safety and access to smartphones for primary school children. It is a far cry from banning smartphones in schools, but it is a very welcome acknowledgement of the huge damage that smartphones are doing to a generation of children and teenagers.
Back in the summer, UNESCO, the UN's education, science and culture agency, highlighted how disruptive smartphones are in the classroom. One study they cited, based on data from 14 countries and looking at children and teenagers from pre-primary through to higher education, found that even just having a smartphone nearby with notifications coming through, is enough to result in students losing attention from the task at hand. Researchers found it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus on what they were learning, once distracted.
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