The Government has backed headteachers who want to prohibit mobile phones in schools. Meanwhile, Penistone and Stocksbridge MP Miriam Cates is calling for an outright social media and smartphone ban for under-16s. The Star asked Sheffield's public if they would back a ban on mobile phones in schools.
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00:00 Thank you, thank you guys. It's Alistair from the Sheffield Star and we're out here asking people about the possible ban on phones in schools that might be coming up and what people might think about that. Any opinions on that one way or another?
00:11 Yeah, I think it's too much control on proper schools now because they're putting more technology into school with iPads and stuff, so why aren't they allowed phones?
00:25 We don't know if this is just going to be secondary schools or primaries, I don't know how many primaries have. I've got kids bringing in phones at this point. Can you see any benefit to it if they were to bring it in? Do you think it's out of order?
00:40 I guess there may be some benefit as you can see kids from a younger and younger age are starting to use phones and that could have a detrimental effect on their mental health. For me personally I believe schools already control kids quite a lot so to implement even further restrictions would be, I see that could be a negative thing again.
01:09 Thank you guys. It's Alistair from the Sheffield Star. We're out here asking people today about the possible ban on mobile phones in schools. Have you got any immediate thoughts on that? Is it the right thing to do or is it too much control?
01:21 I definitely think it's very controlling because as kids, they're watching TV which is the same thing as paying on the phone. People have got videos of kids when they're on public transport. But even just in school if you're struggling to learn something, you can go to Google.
01:42 I agree that I think they should have phones in school. I think there's also the fact that there's the journey home from school to home. What happens if there's a 12 year old girl, maybe she's missed the bus to get home that she usually gets because she's had a detention or something.
02:10 And it's dark because it's winter and she's walking home without a phone. I think some people would be worried about breaking the rules so just wouldn't bring the phone in general. Schools said no phones, take that literally and don't bring the phone in.
02:23 A couple of schools will just say also don't bring a phone full stop, not even like imposing it that far.
02:28 I think it could include unnecessary danger without the need to. I get the idea that maybe if they're sat on Snapchat in the middle of a lesson, I understand that. But there's more to it than that and I think they should have more trust in our kids than just thinking that we're just Snapchatting each other.