Making schools a smartphone free zone

Pressure is mounting on the Government to implement a ban on smartphones for children, as research shows the harmful effects the devices and social media in particular are having on young people.

Minister for Education Norma Foley launched the ‘Keeping Childhoods Smartphone Free’ policy earlier this year, which encourages schools to enter voluntary agreements with parents on not buying phones for primary school children.

However, some politicians believe more should be done.

Peadar Toibín TD sits on the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. During a Dáil session before the summer recess, he brought the Education (Smartphones in Primary Schools) Bill 2024 before TDs.

The bill seeks to promote the welfare and education of children by prohibiting the use of smartphones by students in primary schools and to provide for related matters.

Senator Aisling Dolan, from Ballinasloe, Co Galway has also brought a Private Members Bill to the Seanad floor in recent months, calling for the Government to launch a campaign that shows graphically the impact smartphones and social media are having on young people.

In Wexford, a small rural school near Enniscorthy has implemented a school-wide ban on smartphones and social media.

Addictive nature

Mark Kelly is principal of Bree National School and a father-of-four, the youngest of whom is still a pupil in the school.

With 230 children and 13 teachers, Mark oversees a busy school community that made headlines just before the end of the academic year, when they unveiled their smartphone and social media ban for all pupils.

Mounting evidence that exposure to social media and smartphone use in general is harmful to children prompted Mark and his board of management to address the issue.

“I have four children so I see the influence of social media and the addictive nature of phones on a daily basis,” he says.

“In school, we have had to deal with the effects of cyber bullying which takes place outside of school hours but is brought into the classroom and is very damaging to children of all ages.

“You only have to look at the toll they take on family life to see the damage being done.”

Earlier this year, Mark sat down with his parents association members to discuss what the school could do to tackle such a thorny subject.

“We organised a parents association meeting six or seven months ago where we spoke to the parents about our concerns and we got the approval of our board of management to survey all the parents on their views regarding smartphones and social media,” he says.

“There was overwhelming support for a recommended minimum age for smartphones and a ban on social media until the age of 13. Once we had that support, we moved forward with our policy that is now in place. It restricts any phones, tablets or devices that can record or communicate from being used in the school.”

Mark says the policy should help parents to turn down requests for smartphones.

“We are trying to make it easier for parents to hold the line when it comes to giving their children smartphones,” he explains.

“I’m more than happy for them to blame me as the reason why their child can’t have one. But the pressure comes from the children and we’ve all heard the line, ‘I’m the only one not to have one,’ which is never true.

“We introduced the policy last May and we’re heading into the new school year with it in place in the hope that it will get stronger as the months go by. We had our taster session for the Junior Infant children in June and we told their parents about the policy.

"The hope is that when they come into the school aware of our stance on smartphones, it will become the norm as these children progress through the school.”

’Experience blockers’

Mark says the busy nature of life makes it an easy solution for parents to reach for a device to keep children occupied.

“The pressure on parents is greater than it ever was, life is so busy and the demands on our time seem endless. Our mental reserves are spent and the need for peace and quiet, achieved by handing a child a device, often wins out,” he says.

“But there are so many aspects to smartphones that are problematic. The cost of the phone, the cost of the contract, supervision of screen time, fights over screen time and lost or broken chargers not to mind administering the discipline when they don’t stick to the rules. It all takes its toll.”

Mark says children don’t realise all the other aspects of their childhood they are missing out on when they’re consumed by their smartphones.

“I strongly believe that smartphones are ‘experience blockers’. They prevent children from doing so many other things like playing sports or meeting their friends in real time, playing the guitar, playing outside – the list is endless,” he says.

Voluntary codes

“My job is to empower parents to make their own decisions but they have to buy into the school policy for it to work.

“We are all hoping it will succeed as we believe it will reduce bullying which goes beyond the social media aspect. We see a lot of bullying around gaming that obviously happens out of school hours but when they are back in class, we see the problems it causes with exclusion along with unkind commentary towards children during the games.

“We want to give every child the most well-rounded education possible and the most important thing a child can learn is how to communicate effectively. It’s a vital life skill and if you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter how clever you are. Phones interfere with this massively.”

While the new Junior Infant arrivals at Bree NS won’t have much of an option but to follow the new policy, the older children have yet to express their views on the matter.

“Our senior pupils haven’t had much to say on the ban, we know they’ll never thank us for it but even if they aren’t happy about it, I’m not sure they’d come to me to complain,” says Mark, laughing.

“The key to this working is having a critical mass of parents on board so that we can create new norms both here in the school and for households and communities.”

Mark plans to install signage at the school gate to inform everyone of the smartphone free policy and said such a visual reminder for parents will reinforce the message for everyone.

“We’ve had talks at the school in recent years where we’ve invited the Gardaí and representatives from Cybersafe Kids to talk to parents so this is putting into practice a policy that helps to protect children during their time here in the school.”