Teachers urge parents not to buy children smartphones
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'One of my friends had a smartphone when they were three or four'
Parents of thousands of children have been asked not to give them a smartphone until they're at least 14 amid fears some were using devices for eight hours a day. Many schools have already banned smartphones on site but one part of the UK thinks it will be the first to have a countywide policy advising parents against giving children smartphones at home. Using mobiles is already banned in schools in Monmouthshire, south Wales, but due to a rise in cyber-bullying reports and fears phone use at home is affecting schoolwork, schools are going a step further. "We've got reports of students who are online at two, three, four in the morning," said Monmouth Comprehensive headteacher Hugo Hutchinson.
"We get a lot of wellbeing issues, as do all schools, that come from social media activity online over the weekend, or when they should be asleep.". Mr Hutchinson said schools had worked on "robust" phone policies but pointed out ultimately children's time was largely spent outside of school, where many still had unrestricted access to smartphones. While teachers in Monmouthshire acknowledge they can't force parents not to give smartphones to their under-14 children, schools have taken a "big step" to give advice about what parents should do in their own home. Schools in some areas of the UK have already asked parents not to get their under-14s smartphones - like in St Albans, Belfast and Solihull in the West Midlands.
'I was worried my son would feel left out'
But Monmouthshire believe they're the first county in the UK where all secondary and primary teachers in both state and private schools are advising against smartphones for more than 9,000 children under the age of 14. One of the parents being advised not to give their children a smartphone is Emma who said she felt like "the worst parent in the world" after continuously telling her 12-year-old son Monty he wasn't allowed one. "He was feeling left out," she said.
Emma and her husband Kev have been attempting to lock their own phones away to support their children
"He would be sitting on the school bus without a phone and everybody else would be doing the journey with a phone. He found that quite difficult. I think for boys it's more about games on the phone." The mum-of-three is worried what her son could be exposed to online and how "addictive" devices were but offered Monty a "brick phone" – a term to describe older models that can't connect to the internet and is only capable of calls and texts. As the thought of giving Monty a smartphone when he reached secondary school had become one of her "biggest fears", she and other parents said they were relieved schools are taking ownership.
Monty has just turned 12-years-old, but doesn't yet have his own smartphone so sometimes plays games on his mum's phone
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