[rajesh1868]

Couple of years back, I would have said a blanket ban on phones in school.

But my life situation changed and I need my son to carry a phone with him. He is Type 1 diabetic (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post5483853 (The Diabetes Thread)) and is connected to an insulin pump to take care of the insulin delivery. He knows to operate it and can take insulin on his own before his snack/lunch. The phone he carries has a bluetooth connectivity to the pump and it can sync the glucose levels/insulin intake details etc at almost real time with other connected phones.

There were situations where he forgot to take insulin/ the infusion connected to his body had come out and as a result insulin wasnt delivered/ due to confusion he double dosed. All these times we could act accordingly by either alerting the school office to remind him or for the last case rushing to school as soon as we saw that he took double dose. We could act and manage his levels before it went hypo

His phone is always silent and is in his bag and not pocket. Only the class teacher, Vice Principal and the Principal are aware of his carrying one. On few occasions where he had to call to clarify few things about his insulin intake, he has always used the Vice Principal's phone

The school has strict no phone usage policy for both students and teachers, but has allowed him to carry one with strict instruction that he should not use it nor his classmates should know about him carrying one. I guess few of his classmates/bus mates might know since once it fell out of his pocket. Ever since we have moved it to his bag.

While I agree on all the negative influence of phone usage and the need to reign in, I am thankful that by law it is not banned.

Note: I just wrote without reading all the posts here. My opinion (reigning in) above is only about the usage in school. We do allow our children to use phone in a controlled manner at home. In fact they have learned lots of things on their own using one.

[amolpol]

The smartphones are called "smart" for a reason. They can be given to anyone and yet managed for the purpose they're intended to be used. Banning is not a solution for today's generation who cannot communicate without messaging apps.

What is needed though, as parents, is to learn and adapt the usage to what is reasonable both in terms of content and time spent on the device. There's several ways to do it both on Android and iOS with the parental restriction settings. Even the home internet routers have enough ways to control what your child can get access to and what can be restricted. Technology has become cheaper and more accessible to everyone, so the kind of monitoring and security that only big IT corporations could do in the past is now just a few clicks on simple apps meant to do this. Of course, these apps are not free and they shouldn't be. But a small fee to manage your child's experience on the "wild" internet is well worth it.

What's equally important is to explain why this protection is necessary to your child because they also need to embrace such restrictions and work with you.

[JunkyardHunter]

Hey, I'm a 12 year old child and I want to share my inputs/experiences -

I do not have a smartphone - I have a Nokia (yes, they still make them). It serves my needs and requirements (texting and making calls) perfectly. It's taken me quite some time to realize this, but Family Link and Qustodio can only take you so far. At the end of the day, keeping the Internet in a child's pockets is dangerous. Plus, since I have a desktop and a laptop, a smartphone is unnecessary.

Our school does not allow phones to be brought in class. I think this is for the better as it helps students get less distracted. I can't comprehend schools abroad allowing their students to bring smartphones into class. Such a distraction!

I have had apps like Qustodio and Family Link installed on my devices before, but we had terrible experiences with both. Glitches and bugs riddled the experience. Eventually, it was uninstalled.

[Samarth 619]

As an educationist, I believe I can shed a small light.

Can you actually ban a child from using smartphones? Uptil what age? Can you guarantee till 15?
Let's be honest, this entire thread talks as if banning is actually an option, and we're all mighty enough to implement it.
This is the young generation, they always have a world you're not aware of. If you don't get it for them, they'll earn one through some means, which are not always good means.

And I've said it a 100 times to parents: Please be a sport, be a part of your child's world, even if it means compromising on the strictness.

The best you can do is:-
1. phased implementation of the phone, a feature phone first, smart next.
2. making them aware of demerits so they're ready for a lifetime of safe use. make them see movies and short films which highlight the dangers associated,
3. using apps like netguard so that not just about any newly installed game/ app accesses the internet.
4. Use apps to limit screen time.
5. promote positive habits like playing chess, scrabble, etc on the phone.

Banning is not an option. They'll get it one way or another.