Banning phones with internet access is the only way to keep kids off smartphones at school, according to a headmistress.
Alice Phillips, who is the headmistress of St Catherine’s boarding school in Surrey has spoken out about the problem of students using smartphones at school.
She criticised parents who pay for unlimited data packages for their teens to browse the internet and said they should buy their children Wi-Fi only devices instead.
“But the wretched parents will keep giving them 3G machines and won’t tell them to reduce the data,” she told The Telegraph.
“There is a bigger problem than all this. Parents, bless them, want to be their friends and I think that is a real problem. There is increasing social pressure on parents to be their children’s best friend”.
Pupils at St Catherine’s are banned from using social media during the day but are allowed access to them for a brief period in the evenings.
“During the day they are in lockdown (so) they cannot get onto these ghastly social media sites which adults can use very competently but children need help with,” she said.
In the past, Ms Phillips had attempted to remove Wi-Fi access from the school altogether but this plan failed because students were greatly opposed to it.
“We say to parents…if you’re going to give them a 3G phone, then just restrict the data. Don’t for goodness sake (get) a package of all free data for your child that you want for yourself,” she advised.
She added that restricting Wi-Fi access was a protective measure and said most of her pupils were “extremely sensible” when it comes to using their mobile phones.
“There is a huge amount of good about the internet and we shouldn’t just assume it’s all dangerous,” she said.
“We have to balance it. And to do that you have to produce a non-hysterical approach and a pragmatic one”.
What do you think mums? Would you like to see a ban on mobile internet in your child’s school? Let us know your thoughts on the subject.
