Eton College has just announced that it will ban new pupils from bringing smartphones to school from September, and will give them a basic, school-issued Nokia handset instead that can only make calls and send texts. Currently Eton does not allow pupils to have phones on them during the day, and all pupils up until Sixth Form must hand in all devices at night. Many other private schools are pursuing similar policies: from September, year seven pupils at Brighton College will not be allowed to have internet-enabled phones on site, and all offline devices will still have to be locked away during the school day. The deputy head at Alleyn’s in Dulwich has written to parents of incoming year sevens urging them to only buy ‘dumbphones’ for their children.
We already have overwhelming evidence that smartphones fundamentally rewire every mental, physical, social and emotional aspect of children’s lives
This is not unique to the private sector.
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