Smartphone-free schools campaign's council backing

Sheffield councillors have backed action following a call by parents and carers to ban smartphones from classrooms in the city.

At a meeting of the authority's education, children and families policy committee, councillors supported a proposal to set up a group to look at the issue and what action might be taken.

During the meeting, Ruth Fitzell, from campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood, Sheffield presented a petition to councillors expressing concerns over the prevalence of smartphone use among children and teenagers.

Fitzell told councillors: "Children need real-life learning and connections. Smartphones make that much harder."

Fitzell, who launched the petition, which has so far attracted about 800 signatures, said 90% of 11-year-olds and a third of six and seven-year-olds had smartphones which were never designed with children in mind.

The Smartphone Free Childhood Sheffield campaign has called for a ban on smartphones for children and young people until at least the age of 14 and a ban on social media for under-16s.

At the meeting, Fitzell said smartphones affected children's attention, learning and social development, adding that they also exposed young people to inappropriate online content, cyber-bullying and created smartphone addiction.

"There is a huge opportunity cost when children spend around 30% of their waking hours on their phones. What are they missing out on?" she asked.

Smartphone Free Childhood Sheffield campaigners said they understood the council could not mandate people's choices or school policies, but could help everyone understand the issues.

"This is about safeguarding mental health and wellbeing," Fitzell said.

"It's not anti-tech, it's pro-child."

Fitzell highlighted Silverdale School, which she said now had a policy where mobile phones had to be turned off and stored in bags during the school day, as opposed to a "not seen, not heard" policy.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, committee chair Dawn Dale responded that a group should be set up to examine the issue and decide a plan of action - involving schools, public health experts and researchers, as well as the council.

She said conversations had already taken place with schools about building a consistent approach to the issue.

She added that there was strong support among parents and carers for a delay to owning smartphones and using social media.

"I share many concerns you have raised around children's wellbeing, online safety and social development," Dale said.

Lib Dem councillor Ann Whitaker told the meeting that adults must set a "responsible example", not spending all their time on phones.

She added that the problem was an "enormous amount of peer pressure" at secondary school, with people feeling pressured to use smartphones "much earlier" than they would have liked.

Green Party councillor Toby Mallinson said he supported the proposal, but all issues should be explored in detail.

Speaking to the BBC, Courtney Coles, 23, from Sheffield, said she thought children should not have phones in classrooms.

"When it comes to learning in class, take the phones away", she said.

However, she added: "Kids should be allowed phones when they're outside class, at break times" because it was important for them to be able to contact their parents.

People who were used to having phones could also feel anxious without them, she added.

Meanwhile, Robert Brady, 31, said he thought removing smartphones from classrooms "would definitely help reduce distractions, especially for those of us that are challenged with learning at times".

"I understand obviously in emergencies students do need to be contacted," he said.

"Taking them out of the classroom and maybe setting an emergency contact up with the teachers themselves that maybe they've got a point in contact rather than the students directly, that would maybe help in those situations."

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