The Verdict: Should schools ban mobiles and how annoying is your partner?
Our reporters hit the streets to talk to the public in our major cities across the UK about the news making the headlines this week. In this episode, we look at the proposal to ban mobile phones from school classrooms, artificial intelligence taking over our jobs, and what annoys you most about your partner
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11 Welcome to The Verdict on the Street,
00:13 the show that listens to its audience.
00:15 Some of the hottest topics out onto the streets of Britain
00:20 to ask you what you think of them.
00:24 In a world that seems full of experts,
00:26 sometimes it's the opinions of the people on the street
00:29 that really matter.
00:30 So, great British public, it's over to you.
00:34 We send our reporters out into a number of cities across the UK,
00:38 armed only with a camera and a microphone
00:40 to ask simply, what do you think?
00:42 On this week's agenda, we're asking,
00:49 should mobile phones be banned from school classrooms?
00:53 Would you let artificial intelligence
00:55 take over your job?
00:57 And on a lighter note, what annoys you most
00:59 about your partner?
01:00 So let's dive in and go straight back to school,
01:06 because the Education Minister Gillian Keegan
01:08 has pitched a policy to remove mobile phones from schools.
01:12 New guidance from the Department of Education
01:14 will back headteachers in banning mobile phone use
01:16 throughout the school day, including at break times
01:19 to tackle disruptive behaviour and online bullying
01:22 while boosting attention during lessons.
01:25 However, a teaching union leader has now
01:27 warned that introducing a blanket ban on pupils
01:29 using mobile phones in schools across England
01:32 is unenforceable.
01:34 As it stands, headteachers already
01:35 have the power to ban phones at their schools.
01:37 However, as it is up to the subjective decision of heads,
01:40 each school has different sets of rules.
01:43 While some may ask pupils to hand in their phones
01:46 at the start of the day, others might
01:47 let them keep them in their bags during lessons
01:49 and use them during breaks.
01:52 It's an idea that might be popular with many parents
01:54 and teachers, but what do you think?
01:56 I understand that in the classrooms,
02:02 because fair enough, if you're not listening,
02:03 you're on your phone and you're not listening.
02:06 But I don't agree with them saying
02:08 no phones in the school at all.
02:10 Our school had tried to do that at one point,
02:11 and it just never worked.
02:12 People need their phone at lunches to do whatever,
02:14 and then their way home, their way there.
02:17 I think you can look at it two ways.
02:19 Obviously, kids are on it way too much as a TikTok
02:22 and whatnot.
02:23 But at the same time, if you've got a child that
02:25 might be a bit more nervous, they might need their phone.
02:29 So make sure they can text their parents when they're going home.
02:32 If they're catching a bus home, make sure they've got the bus.
02:35 But at the same time, they need to be learning in school.
02:38 So yeah, I understand why they would be banned
02:40 if they were distracted.
02:42 A recent survey by U Switch conducted last year
02:45 found that the average UK adult will spend a whopping five
02:48 hours using various screens, including phones, TVs, laptops,
02:53 and tablets.
02:54 That's in addition to screen time related to work.
02:57 When it comes to our children, screen time can be useful,
03:00 if spent wisely, of course.
03:02 But do devices distract kids when they should be learning?
03:05 And what do you do to encourage your little ones
03:07 to put down their tech?
03:09 100%.
03:10 There are a lot, a lot of research about--
03:15 it's quite complicated to say in English,
03:18 but it's just not good for the kids.
03:20 Because if you expose the kids to the screen,
03:24 then in the long term, they are going to struggle
03:26 to focus in something else.
03:29 And there are so many researches about how unhealthy
03:33 it is for kids--
03:35 actually, for everyone.
03:36 But especially in kids who they are developing the brain
03:39 and things like that, it's not healthy.
03:42 I think maybe giving them that forced respite
03:44 will do them good, actually.
03:46 I think that's probably a very good idea.
03:47 I never had them at school.
03:48 It didn't do me any harm.
03:50 I think it would liberate them a lot more than they
03:53 think it will damage them.
03:55 Definitely, yes.
03:58 I work in education.
03:59 I'm a teacher.
04:00 And it's too disruptive.
04:03 Every time there's a change in class, in the lesson,
04:05 from one exercise to the other, they grab their phones.
04:08 And they're occupied with that instead
04:10 of what they should be learning.
04:12 Do you not think they can be quite useful, perhaps?
04:14 Sometimes, but I think that's only 10% of the time.
04:18 I'm doing my master's in education.
04:20 So this is one of the topics we've
04:21 been studying a lot in class.
04:24 So I believe that students should have the right
04:27 to bring their phones to school, but with certain kind
04:32 of guarantee from the teachers.
04:35 They should limit the students the length
04:38 of the use time of their phones.
04:40 And I think most of the time, nowadays,
04:44 with technology development, I think
04:47 people are-- sometimes teachers want students
04:50 to use these kind of phones to check or some Google
04:54 some stuff.
04:55 Maybe they can offer students iPads at school,
04:59 which can bring them opportunity to find the knowledge.
05:02 Now we cast our thoughts to the future,
05:07 because during a recent conversation with Prime
05:09 Minister Rishi Sunak, tech billionaire Elon Musk
05:12 said that artificial intelligence
05:13 has the potential to become the most
05:15 disruptive force in history.
05:17 He went on to say that it could even eventually put everyone
05:20 out of a job.
05:21 Mr. Sunak conceded the risk of AI destroying jobs
05:24 was causing anxiety, but said that Britain should look
05:27 at the new tech as a co-pilot.
05:30 So do you fancy an autopilot or a co-pilot,
05:33 or are you just keeping your feet on the ground?
05:35 I would not be happy if AI took my job, to be honest,
05:41 because at the end of the day, we push ourselves
05:44 through these education systems to get
05:46 a job that can sustain us and take us
05:49 to the next level in our life.
05:51 Why are we going to let AI let it succumb to that?
05:54 Do you know what I mean?
05:55 What would you do, if you didn't go to work?
05:57 No, I mean, you have to go to work, do you, son.
05:59 Even if it's not the best job in the world,
06:02 you still have to-- well, you don't have to do it,
06:04 but it gets you to this.
06:05 It's as simple as that.
06:06 The more we go into AI, I think the more we
06:09 are going to be putting people out of jobs.
06:13 But another thing is, I tend to wonder,
06:15 if we carry on and carry on on AI,
06:19 is AI soon going to take over and rule?
06:22 In a recent survey conducted by YouGov,
06:24 six in 10 people were found to expect more jobs will
06:27 be lost to robotics and AI than will
06:29 be created in the near future.
06:31 Among workers themselves, 62% expect more jobs
06:34 to be lost than gained.
06:36 Yet when they're asked whether jobs like their own
06:38 will primarily be done by humans or by robots or AI
06:41 30 years from now, the majority still see a human future.
06:45 Here's what some of you lot think.
06:47 AI take over if I didn't have to work.
06:50 I think no.
06:51 It all sounds very tempting.
06:53 But I think I've been a teacher, and I've
06:55 had a very satisfying career.
06:57 And I wouldn't have wanted to miss that by a robot.
07:01 Because I studied mechatronics engineering at a university.
07:05 And there's like--
07:06 I'm in the automation stream, but there's the AI stream
07:08 as well.
07:10 Yeah, I mean, obviously, ChatGPT
07:12 is like the really big AI platform that's
07:14 being spoken about at the moment.
07:16 I think it's good for efficiency,
07:18 but I also think it does impact students' learning
07:20 in the best-- like over-reliant.
07:23 So I think, yeah, like automation for sure
07:26 is a positive thing in the workplace.
07:29 But AI, yeah, like does have a lot of positives,
07:32 but also does need to be controlled so that it doesn't--
07:36 we don't become too over-reliant.
07:39 When I retired, there used to be 10 people working
07:41 in our office when I first started.
07:43 This is going back 30 years ago.
07:46 And as internet came, so a few people left.
07:51 And we kept getting new programs.
07:53 And when I left, only two people worked in that office.
07:57 So the machines that they brought in
07:59 did a hell of a lot of the work, which is really scary.
08:02 In the future, yeah, if AI can take some of those job roles,
08:05 as long as people are properly supported,
08:07 and the government reacts and legislates appropriately
08:09 for AI, then I think, yeah, it could
08:11 be really positive in the workplace,
08:12 and maybe taking some of those job roles as well.
08:16 I've used chat GPT before.
08:18 I think everyone has.
08:20 But like, I don't think--
08:22 I don't know.
08:23 I think it's negative because it's not--
08:25 it's just like a computer.
08:27 Yeah, I think it comes in handy for things
08:28 like little questions.
08:30 But then I think it's like it could go weird,
08:34 because I think there's a sense of it that's like people aren't
08:37 really thinking for themselves anymore.
08:39 And of course, if you lose your job
08:44 to some artificial intelligent robot,
08:46 you're going to have to spend a lot more time with your partner.
08:49 But have you spared a thought to consider how
08:52 annoying is that going to be?
08:55 Oh, my partner.
08:57 She's always late to everything.
08:59 Everything.
09:00 If I say 11 o'clock, she'll be there at half 11.
09:03 So I have to lie to her a lot.
09:04 So if we have dinner at 7, I have to say it's half 6.
09:07 Always late.
09:08 Always.
09:08 Guaranteed that.
09:09 100% of the time.
09:11 But I'm used to it now.
09:12 And my family know me for being very on time.
09:14 Like I could say 11 or 3, and I'd be there at 11 or 3.
09:18 So when they know I'm not there, they're like, it's the missus.
09:22 I struggle to think what would annoy me most about her.
09:25 I'm actually bound for her birthday, so that's annoying.
09:28 Because it's cold.
09:30 So that's better.
09:31 And an hour later, you're gone.
09:33 If you can hear.
09:35 Do you know when people are seated and you can hear them?
09:39 Now, seeing on the television, it
09:41 means you've got something to be the noise.
09:43 It's cold, something.
09:44 I must have it.
09:46 Most annoying things.
09:48 I think the most annoying thing is that she
09:54 speaks Swedish on a Tuesday.
09:57 The kids can't understand her.
09:59 I can't understand her.
10:01 We don't know what the hell she's on about.
10:04 But I think it's the side effects of a tiny operation
10:07 that she had.
10:08 And I didn't think I'd ever be, but I'm the recycling
10:10 guy in the house.
10:11 I do all the recycling.
10:12 And it's when I go into the cardboard bin
10:14 and I see metal in there and things.
10:16 And if they refuse to pick it up one week,
10:18 this house is going to be in turmoil.
10:20 It's recycling.
10:21 And yet, my wife, yes, always just puts whatever in whatever
10:26 bin and things there.
10:27 But they're just the little things.
10:29 There's no big things.
10:30 A lot of things.
10:31 [LAUGHS]
10:32 To be fair.
10:35 I can't really put my finger on any at the minute.
10:39 He's stubborn.
10:41 Yeah, stubborn.
10:42 The most annoying thing that my wife does
10:44 is assume what I'm going to say halfway through the sentence
10:47 and start reacting to it when I haven't even finished speaking.
10:50 Because I tend to pause.
10:52 And that drives me absolutely potty.
10:55 How long have you got?
10:57 Right then, where do I start?
11:00 Well, I think with John, the fact he starts a project
11:04 and then gets really into it, does a fantastic job,
11:07 and then stops, and then does another project,
11:10 and then starts again, and then stops again.
11:13 So I think I can count maybe about four or five projects
11:16 we've got where he's done a beautiful job halfway through,
11:18 and then he's stopped and carried on.
11:20 And she never quite gets the lobster thermidor right.
11:25 And she calls it lobster thermostat.
11:29 Much to the amusement of the whole family.
11:35 Most kids have fish fingers.
11:36 We have lobster thermidor.
11:39 It just shows you that that Sunday morning paper round
11:42 that she had paid off.
11:45 Do you have something that annoys you most about a partner?
11:50 Yeah, being there.
11:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:56 (upbeat music)