“We are losing our children to screens and watching as deep learning gives way to shallow thinking. It’s time to speak up.”

Jared Cooney Horvath.

As global scores on reading, maths and science plummet across the world, but the money spend on Ed Tech continues to rise, we’re asking, does Ed tech really boost learning? Is the move to screen-based learning really benefiting our children?

Please join us for a conversation with neuro-scientist Jared Cooney Horvath, author of the best-selling book, The Digital Delusion. Tuesday 24th November at 8pm (GMT) on Zoom.

Horvath argues that the decline in reading, maths and science scores across the globe coincides with the onset of digital technology in the classroom. And that many Ed Tech platforms are being rapidly embedded with little to no proof of benefit.

During the conversation he will run through the latest evidence, the impact of an over-reliance on screens on learning, and we’ll be asking him what parents and schools can do.

Our new urgent campaign - to protect children from addictive-by-design technology at school

When we started our Generation Focus campaign, we had a single mission: to help empower schools to go smartphone free. Now, it is increasingly clear that screens in the classroom are also having a negative impact - on our children’s attention, ability to learn, and their well-being.

The data is clear - this generation of children is less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Their thinking is shallower, their writing is weaker, and they are retaining less information than we did. The implications for their individual chances of future success and happiness are huge. For society it means a less productive, capable, stable workforce.

This cognitive collapse coincides with the introduction of digital technology into the classroom and soaring government investment in getting children learning on screens.

Ed Tech - Big Tech in a school jumper

In the last decade, the Ed tech business model, (which is after all, just Big Tech in a school jumper), has infiltrated our schools. The UK is now spending £900 million a year on Ed Tech, despite there being little evidence that it supports learning, and a growing body of evidence that it doesn’t.

That’s why we’re now campaigning to protect children from all addictive-by-design technology - whether it’s at home, or at school. And we believe every parent and school leader in the country needs to be part of the conversation.

Please do share the invite to our webinar with parents, teachers and Head teachers. We want as many people as possible to be part of this.

The sign up link is here.

Thanks,

Team Generation Focus

First, some positive news from the campaign in England.

A significant milestone came within touching distance this week as the number of secondary schools in England (that we know of) using ‘simple-phones-only’ or ‘no-phones-at-all’ policies neared 300.

Alongside her local campaigning and national research, the indefatigable Nancy Stuart, a Generation Focus grassroots leader, has worked with Smartphone Free Schools Rating to compile a list of schools with gold-standard policies. It is available here - invaluable for finding schools in your area who are leading the way.

Subscribe now

A reminder of why these policies are so impactful:

When schools allow simple ‘brick’ phones only (call or text only, no camera or internet), children are immediately protected from mobile online harm, addictive technology and non-consensual photography throughout the school day, as well as on the school journey.

Parents are empowered and encouraged to delay giving children a smartphone in the first place. As AI supercharges the damage that can be done by and to children with access to smartphones, we need this social change more urgently than ever…

Say ‘cheese’

Every child having the whole of the internet and a high-definition camera in their bags is already an urgent safeguarding crisis. AI is making things even worse.

Last week Generation Focus grassroots leader in the North West, and I attended an eye-opening workshop in Greater Manchester on Generative AI and Deepfakes. Police, school leaders and child protection teams shared how they are grappling with pupils using nudification apps and other AI platforms to generate explicit images and deep fakes, often using photographs taken during the school day.

They are working together on a multi-agency response to this immediate threat, and there was consensus that longer-term measures must also be put in place to get adult devices out of children’s hands.

So that in ten years we’re not back in the same room firefighting the fallout of smartphone apps that haven’t yet been invented.

Digital Delusion

Meanwhile in London, was at the launch of the Digital Delusion by neuroscientist and educator . It’s a must-read for anyone who cares about children’s education (and, quite frankly, the future of the human race).

Jared makes the point that the emphasis in this discussion needs to be on the science behind how human beings learn and the pedagogical evidence for what works best in the classroom, rather than on the tech itself.

Because when we understand the science and follow the evidence, pupil-facing digital devices and AI largely become redundant: they are fundamentally incompatible with how children learn and rarely meet the minimum threshold for meaningful impact on educational outcomes.*

Former Google employees agree. More than 170 million children and teachers use Google’s EdTech products and whistleblowers are sounding the alarm. “We’re doing this experiment on an entire generation on cognitive development, with no control group,” said Mikel Rodriguez, a former Google research scientist who left last year, in this interview with the Wall Street Journal.

On the subject of whistleblowers…

“Your Attention Please”, the award-winning documentary featuring Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and the families taking on Big Tech, was released on Wednesday. We’ll be watching it this weekend, (in between Traitors and Strictly.)

*Our next campaign will be to raise awareness of the science behind learning and the evidence of how it is negatively impacted by pupil-facing EdTech and AI. Please email us at hello@generationfocus.org if you’d like to get involved or join our whatsapp group here.

News this week has been AI-heavy, with Australia launching an urgent review after OpenAI agent hacked into a government health portal. Inevitably, the AI debate tends to focus on the future, and what its development means for humanity. But for children, the impact of AI is happening right now, in their homes and their classrooms.

As Jared Cooney Horvath says in his brilliant book The Digital Delusion, “AI is the tool nobody asked for, solving problems nobody had.” He warns that AI tools like ChatGPT are built for adult efficiency and productivity, but when it comes to children’s learning, they can have a disastrous impact.

His work is backed up by countless studies, including recent research that found heavy use of AI has a clear negative connection to independent reasoning and problem-solving. Younger participants showed more dependence on the tool in the study, as well as lower critical thinking scores. While none of this is surprising, it does create cognitive dissonance, when we are told simultaneously that AI is the future and that children must learn how to lose it.

Writing in the Times, Alice Thomson warns that “our children’s future jobs and family life are under threat as they become academically and emotionally stunted, less articulate and more submissive.” She goes on to say that “AI is also making them lonelier, and less likely to form real friendships or learn how to empathise and compromise, as their new artificial friends agree with everything they say and do.”

AI supercharges the existing problem of junk EdTech

What didn’t make the headlines this week is new report on the findings of a DfE-funded EdTech Evidence Board. They surveyed 86 EdTech suppliers and fewer than half said research evidence was “very important”. Around 50% of EdTech supplier websites make product claims based on evidence that was “fragmented” and “generally impossible to substantiate.”

Meanwhile we’re spending hundreds of millions of pounds a year on “Educational Technology”, which does not come anywhere near the minimum threshold for meaningful positive impact on children’s learnings.

The “Smoky Room” - knowing something’s wrong, but carrying on regardless

In 1968, Psychologists Latane and Darley conducted their famous “smoky room experiment”- which found that people are much less likely to report an emergency (the introduction of smoke into a waiting room) when other people are present who are not reporting it. We saw this phenomenon, (known as the “bystander effect”), with smartphones and social media. For years, many parents had a deep sense that something was wrong - but it took parents coming together to say “this isn’t right”, both in the UK and many other countries, before the collective consciousness shifted, and change began to happen.

Are we now all in the smoky room when in comes to AI and children? We may not be able to control what the likes of Sam Altman and Dario Amodei decide to do. But we do have the power, and the responsibility, to protect our children’s ability to think and learn, and it is down to parents, and teachers to come together and act.

This is already starting to happen - New York City has announced a one-year ban on student use of generative AI in New York City public schools all the way up to the end of year 9. They’re also banning unlimited screen time for younger students, and implementing AI literacy lessons for secondary school. Examples of collective action such as this are encouraging, and show that whatever happens on the global stage, schools do have the power to protect their pupils at a local level.

If you’re a concerned parent or teacher, please do join our rapidly growing community, for parents and teachers concerned about AI and an over-reliance on screens in schools.

How smartphone free schools create societal change

At Generation Focus, as part of our work to protect children from addictive design, we’re campaigning for all schools to transition to brick phone policies. This message, posted on one of our parent groups by a mum at a “brick only” school, shows why that policy is so powerful:

Brick phone policies don’t just protect the school day, they empower many more parents to delay, and thus protect children for longer. This mum’s experience proves what we’ve always known: that schools really do have the power to change the norm through their policies. Without the burden of addictive devices in their pockets, children can focus, learn, play, and be children again. When it comes to smartphones, schools are the quickest, most powerful route to societal change.

However, new data out this week from Teacher Tapp shows we still have a long way to go. The figures show there has been a rapid shift to stricter mobile phone policies in the last twelve months, with 50% of schools now using “no see no hear” policies.

Out of the schools collecting phones in, 60% are opting for pouches. Whilst these figures represent a step in the right direction, there is clearly more work needed to ensure that children are protected. And whilst lockable pouches do protect the school day, they do nothing to protect childhood beyond the school gate, and they can also be prohibitively expensive for schools. That’s why we’re supporting schools to move to brick phone policies - which are free to implement, protect children from seeing harmful content on smartphones on the school journey, and still allow children to be able to contact their parents when they need to.

We’ll keep going, until every child is free to focus, learn and thrive, without addictive-by-design technology in their pockets, or in their classrooms.

Have a great weekend.

Team Generation Focus

In particular, we’re pushing for brick-phone-only policies in UK schools, and a healthier approach to AI and Ed tech in the classroom.

Here’s the latest news from the campaign:

HMD launches a School Edition phone. Built for focus

This is the simple “brick phone” we’ve been waiting for. It’ll be available in the UK in coming weeks, complete with a “School Safe” seal of approval from our friends at Smartphone free Schools Rating.

We’ll let you know as soon as they tell us when and where you can buy one.

Earlier this year a group of us emailed the CEO of HMD with a question “Can we make HMD phones school compliant?” We wanted a simple phone with three essential features:

1. No internet (to prevent constant distraction by addictive technology and exposure to harmful online content)

2. No camera (to prevent non-consensual photography and filming)

3. 4G calls and texts only (to contact home on the school journey if necessary.)

And they said yes! Recognition by a huge phone manufacturer like HMD of the need for school safe devices represents massive progress in the campaign to protect children against harmful technology. We’re confident others will follow suit as parents demand devices that are designed with children’s wellbeing at their core. If you’re a head teacher and would like to know more about the phone, please do get in touch at hello@generationfocus.org. We’d love to see this phone taking hold as the go-to school phone this academic year.

Back to school - the rules are changing

The Department for Education’s “Mobile Phones in Schools” guidance became statutory in June and schools are expected to follow it from 1st September. It creates a clear legal expectation that schools must be “mobile phone-free by default” unless there is a legally justifiable reason for schools not to do so. Ofsted are also now checking school mobile phone policies on every inspection.

The latest Teacher Tapp survey on school mobile phone policies shows 13% of primary and 41% of secondary teachers say their school is changing its policy. At the majority (57%) of those secondary schools the rule was to keep phones out of sight all day unless directed by a teacher. Unfortunately some “new” policies are essentially just a more strongly-enforced version of these “no see no hear” policies but we welcome the awareness this raises among parents about the damage smartphones do, especially in school.

And we mustn’t forget that the government has committed to reviewing the guidance and making any necessary revisions by September 2027. At Generation Focus we are working hard to gather evidence and build a strong case for “brick phone only” policies as the gold-standard to contribute to this review.

Reading scores fall across the globe - but England pulls ahead

England’s teenagers have pulled ahead of the rest of the UK in international reading, maths and science tests, with Scotland and Wales falling further behind. The latest PISA results, based on 15-year-olds across 91 countries, show reading and maths scores declining in every UK nation except England, while science improved across all four – with the strongest gains again seen in England.

However, the results also sound a wider warning: teenagers globally are losing crucial reading skills, particularly the ability to critically evaluate information from different sources – skills the OECD says “matter most in the age of AI”. The proportion of “hasty readers”, who rush through texts and give quick but incorrect answers, has almost doubled since 2018, with the decline greatest among pupils from relatively well-off families. While England’s strong performance has been welcomed by ministers, the results have also reignited political debate over the impact of recent education reforms. For schools, the message is clear: sustaining gains in literacy and numeracy while building pupils’ critical reading and information-evaluation skills will be increasingly important as AI reshapes how young people access and process information.

The impact of an increased over-reliance on screen-based learning

Health Professionals for Safer Screens have drafted an open letter to Education Secretary Lucy Powell MP and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper MP, raising concerns about the physical and developmental health impacts of rising screen-based learning and EdTech use in our classrooms.

The letter argues that despite the explosion of screens and EdTech in our schools, no statutory requirement exists for products to demonstrate they don’t put children’s physical health at risk before use. It sets out clinical concerns across three main areas:

• Speech and language: screen-based 1:1 learning may be displacing the face-to-face interaction young children need for language acquisition, with over two million UK children now struggling with speech and language.

• Eyesight: rising myopia rates in children, both globally and in the UK, linked to increased screen time.

• Health inequalities: children with SEN are often steered towards screen-based learning at exactly the point they may need more careful supervision of screen exposure.

They’re inviting health professionals to add their names to this letter before it’s sent to the Department for Education. So if you’re a health professional please click here for the full version of the letter and option to sign. And if you’re not, please forward it to your medical friends.

That’s it for now. We’ll be back in a fortnight with all the latest news from the movement.

Have a great week.

Team Generation Focus

Why is a statutory ban on phones in schools essential?

Whilst there is now growing consensus that a social media ban is essential, a statutory ban on phones in schools is equally urgent. Because even without social media, smartphones in schools pose significant safeguarding risks for children. And increasingly, it’s the young people themselves who are telling us this. A few weeks ago we heard from 17-year old Flossie McShea, who was shown a video of a child being killed by another child, as she got off the school bus. You can watch Flossie’s powerful interview on BBC Breakfast here. What she saw was so horrific, the BBC producers asked her not to mention it on air. And yet she was able to see it whilst under her school’s duty of care, at the age of just 11. She describes seeing it as the moment her “childhood ended.”

We have also heard from 18-year-old Fraser, who was diagnosed with PTSD after seeing a video of a man committing suicide. He was shown the footage at school on a friend’s phone. He was just 12. He speaks powerfully about how this experience changed his childhood forever.

Neither Flossie nor Fraser’s accounts are unusual. These are daily occurrences for this generation of school children. Whilst smartphones are allowed to be brought into school, even if they’re locked away in pouches or lockers, we’ll continue to hear heart-breaking stories like these.

17-year-old Flossie spoke powerfully to the BBC about the horrific footage she was shown on another child’s phone at school.

Why isn’t the new government guidance enough?

Last week, the government issued new guidance, aimed at reducing ambiguity and taking a firmer stance on phones in school. Whilst efforts to create more clarity are clearly welcomed, head teachers say the new version has opened up new areas of confusion. For example, there is no distinction between brick and smartphones, and it’s unclear whether “no see no hear” policies are still permitted. With this continued lack of clarity, it will be hard for Ofsted to regulate effectively.

However, the biggest issue with the new guidance is that it’s not statutory - meaning heads don’t have the full force of the law with which to enforce their policies. This means they are left with the burden of attempting to change a deeply embedded norm, without enough government support, which takes up valuable time and effort that would arguably be better spent running their schools. This is why hundreds of head teachers signed our letter to the Secretary of State, calling for a statutory ban.

Why “brick phone” policies change the norm most effectively

Having worked extensively with schools, time and again what we’ve seen work best is a simple “brick-phone only” policy. Allowing only brick phones to school is utterly transformational for teachers, parents and children. Non internet-enabled devices simply aren’t addictive like a smartphone, and therefore having them off in bags poses far less of a problem. Brick phone only policies also change the norm way beyond the school gate, by empowering parents to delay giving a smartphone in the first place.

Join our webinar for head teachers

Given that the new guidance stipulates phones must be phone free by next term, we know many head teachers are now rethinking their policies. So we’re holding a practical “how to do it” webinar, specifically for head teachers. We want to help make it as simple and easy for busy school leaders to get smartphones out of schools.

We’ll talk through our head teacher toolkit to help with every stage of implementation. And we’ll be joined by three head teachers who’ve implemented brick phone policies. They’ll share the hurdles they overcame, how they engaged parents, and the extraordinary transformation they’ve seen in their school communities.

Join us on Zoom: 10.30 am on Thursday 12th February.

Sign up here for a zoom link, and the recording afterwards. (If you have any questions, just email us at hello@generationfocus.org.)

We’ve seen time and again that smartphone free schools unlock smartphone childhoods. When schools signal that smartphones aren’t appropriate or necessary, it empowers parents to delay, and helps preserve childhood for longer.

Getting smartphones out of our children’s hands is the simplest and most powerful way we have for protecting our children. This isn't about depriving our kids. It's about preventing profiteering companies from accessing and commoditising their attention, and giving them back the chance to focus, learn and thrive.

Secretary of State Wes Streeting told the Today programme,

“we’ve been called upon to act by parents - about 8 in 10 parents have urged government to act in this space. The majority of teachers are seeing the impact on concentration on behaviour in the classroom…and young people themselves are calling on the government to act.”

Swap in ‘smartphones’ for ‘energy drinks’ and the case for government action is even stronger.

• 94% of parents with primary school aged children feel that smartphones are harmful to children.

• 82% of secondary teachers told TeacherTapp they would prefer their school would outright ban phones.

Why? Because in classrooms across the country, right now, teachers are battling poor concentration as students, often sleep deprived after a long night gaming or on social media, battle to not sneak a peek at their smartphones - the world’s most powerful distraction device - pinging or buzzing from their blazer pocket or bag.

Children across the country are excusing themselves from lessons to “go to the toilet” where they’ll work on their Snapstreak or get a quick dopamine fix on TikTok.

Headteacher after headteacher says the majority of disciplinary issues they deal with relate to smartphones and/or social media.

It’s little wonder 78% of Gen Z say they will delay giving their own children social media for as long as possible.

As if to highlight the contradiction of banning energy drinks and not smartphones, the next interview on Wednesday’s Today programme was with Esther Ghey, mother of murdered teenager Brianna, calling for a complete and immediate ban of smartphones in schools.

She spoke movingly about Brianna’s smartphone addiction and the data released by Brianna’s headteacher showing her school days dominated and disrupted by her smartphone.

In 3 years Brianna’s school logged 120 safeguarding incidents ranging from Brianna being at risk of child sexual exploitation to her self-harming “due to what she was seeing online.” There were also 116 behaviour logs.

We believe this is utterly representative of what is happening in a typical school in this country.

“I’d get up to 5 calls from school each day about Brianna refusing to put her phone away, texting in lessons, going to the toilet to film TikTok videos” Esther says. “Even though it might sound like an extreme case, it’s really not.”

Brave campaigners like Esther and the high-profile celebrities and experts, like Kate Winslet and Jonathan Haidt, who are supporting her campaign (Phone Free Education) are changing society’s view of smartphones and children.

As the education leaders at the frontline of the smartphone safeguarding crisis every single day, we want to make sure headteachers’ voices are also heard loud and clear in this collective call for change.

So we’ve written this open letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, echoing Esther Ghey’s call for a statutory ban of smartphones in schools.

This will immediately strengthen a learning environment which produces better educational outcomes for all children and also supports parents to delay buying children a smartphone in the first place so they are protected at home and while travelling, as well as at school.

50 headteachers have signed it in the last couple of days alone so please add your name and share it with colleagues.

Our goal is to reach many more - a number the government surely can’t ignore, especially as the national conversation reaches a consensus that smartphone-free schools really are a no-brainer.

The link again:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdnFKQkBs8OFdbBLlK4EJ_JZzAKwPoQkdejNJhD4adCUKbVdw/viewform

Thank you!

The Campaign for Smartphone Free Schools

This is in response to growing evidence of the significant harms these devices cause when pupils have access to them during school hours.

As part of our case preparation, we are collecting evidence from a wide range of professionals and witnesses to build a comprehensive picture of the risks associated with smartphone use in educational settings.

We are urgently looking for headteachers who have observed negative consequences for children due to smartphones or social media during school hours.

Please DM or email me on will[at]keystonetutors.com if you’d be happy to give a written witness statement, which can be anonymous if desired.

Some of the negative consequences we’re hearing about include:

• Exposure to and sharing of pornography

• Access to online images depicting sexual violence against children

• Sexual abuse or exploitation facilitated by smartphone use at school, including deepfake content

• Sharing of humiliating non-sexual content

• Exposure to violent imagery or videos

• Peer-on-peer bullying or physical altercations

• Social pressures contributing to mental health issues such as anorexia, depression, or anxiety

They may also relate to disrupted learning and impact on a calm, safe, supportive environment:

• Distraction during lessons / teachers spending disproportionate time policing smartphones

• Internal truancy

• A reduction in socialising and play

Confidentiality and Participation

We fully understand the importance of confidentiality for schools and their staff and students so are seeking general insights and patterns—not identifiable information.

Your name and school would be assured of full anonymity; our solicitors would liaise with you to verify your identity.

If any of your staff/ parents/ students felt that they wanted to support this initiative, we would be happy to discuss the possibility of their involvement as witnesses, including provisions for anonymity and safeguarding.

As things stand this judicial review is the best and speediest route to the government changing its policy and removing the smartphone scourge from every school in the country once and for all so any support you can give will be invaluable.

Thank you!

Will (and Pete)

Sorry for the many months of silence. We have much planned for next term to catalyse the campaign to rid schools of smartphones: Watch. This. Space.

This week, though, has been all about a related campaign I’ve been working on with another Dad, Pete Montgomery, for our organisation Generation Alpha. We are seeking to demonstrate that allowing children access to smartphones in schools is unlawful.

Our launch last weekend was fortunate to receive coverage right across the political spectrum (from The Guardian to GB News!) and we look forward to hearing the government’s response in the coming week or so. I’ll try to keep this newsletter (and LinkedIN) posted with updates.

TWO QUICK PLEAS FOR NOW!

1. Did you or anyone you know respond to KCSIE call for evidence 2024?

   We urgently need to talk to any teacher or education leader who responded to the KCSIE ‘call for evidence’ last year who expressed concerns about smartphones (‘children bringing their own devices to schools’).

   This is important for our legal challenge. If you did, please reply to this email or get in touch at https://generationalpha.uk/contact.

   If you’re able to, please also forward this email on to any teachers who might have responded.

2. We are seeking witness statements from parents or teachers whose children / pupils have suffered harm due to smartphones at school. (This includes school trips, fixtures and school transport.) We are seeking written statements only, with no need to appear in court. There is the potential for anonymity if it is justified. Please get in touch if this could be you via evidence@generationalpha.uk, and find out more at https://generationalpha.uk/

A quick reminder for those of you who have not yet signed up to our new newsletter on MailChimp to do so here.

Below are three snippets you will have missed, and links to the rest.

Happy Christmas!

Will

Read December’s newsletter in full here.

Read late November’s newsletter in full here.

And if you’re a School Leader, please join our SFC School Leaders WhatsApp group here.

Read early November’s newsletter in full here.

Action required!

Now that Smartphone Free Schools is launched, we are moving this newsletter from Substack to its own platform in MailChimp.

If you would like to keep on hearing about developments in smartphone-free schooling, please subscribe here.

If you have any questions about the future of SFS or anything is unclear, please just ask. I’ll keep monitoring this account for the next few weeks.

PS and if you are not ready to bid adieu to substack and would like to read my more general newsletter on education, technology etc., check out The Lantern here. It has been much neglected this year what with everything that has been going on at SFC/SFS but I hope to breathe some new life into it again soon.

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you soon at our new home,

Will

A slimmed-down schools edition this week as there is so much going on in the wider Smartphone Free Childhood movement.

As ever, if please be in touch with any developments of interest or if you think we can help your school with their moves to go Smartphone Free.

Best wishes,

Will

Subscribe now

Recommended Reading

The youth charity Onside has brought out its ‘Generation Isolation’ report. Smartphones and the digital landscape for children predominate.

One of the main findings is that over half (52%) of children would like to reduce their screen time. Perhaps most significantly, 46% of them simply don’t know how to break the habit.

Snapshot and 1 minute video below.

Read the report here.

Here is OnSide’s video on how young people feel about their smartphones:

The Screen Time Consultant has a good summary piece out:

“Should Phones Be Allowed in Schools? - 3 Common Arguments Debunked”

She is based in the US so her concerns about school shooting mercifully have less purchase on us in the UK. However, her recommendations to parents could to my mind be usefully incorporated in schools’ communications to their parent body about the rationale for tighter smartphone restrictions.

My highlights:

You do not need to reach your child quickly; you want to. That’s not a reason to justify smartphones in school, especially when their harms and negative impacts on learning are well-documented. 

…

When it comes to safety, there are several reasons why children having access to phones in dangerous situations does not increase personal or group safety, and in fact, may have the opposite effect.

…

Our children’s autonomy and privacy is an important part of their development. Surveillance not only erodes trust, but it is a violation of their growing personhood.

Tracking our children’s location is about our own anxieties and fears about the world; not about keeping our children safe.

…

One very important note about effective phone-free schools is that the ban has to be from first bell to last bell– a ban “just during instructional time” is not a phone ban and will not net the same benefits. In fact, I would argue, it just muddies the water. 

Snapchat —

We read two weeks ago about the X-rated pedophile hellscape of Roblox. This week, NSPCC brought out their investigation of Snapchat’s massively outsized role in online grooming.

The figures are astonishing:

The messaging app Snapchat is the most widely-used platform for online grooming, according to police figures supplied to the children's charity the NSPCC.

More than 7,000 Sexual Communication with a Child offences were recorded across the UK in the year to March 2024 - the highest number since the offence was created.

Snapchat made up nearly half of the 1,824 cases where the specific platform used for the grooming was recorded by the police.

YouGov —

YouGov polled parents on when a child should be given a smartphone - snapshot below:

Picking up one of the Screen Time Consultant’s themes above, we know that the main reason that parents want their child to have a phone for secondary school is in order to get to / from school safely.

So my reading of this poll is that the various efforts to bring to the market a safe non-internet enabled phone for children are of the utmost urgency.

Recommended Listening

5Rights hosted a revealing interview with Professor Sonia Livingstone:

Phone bans in schools: smart move or big mistake?

It was good to hear Professor Livingstone affirm the particular problems around SEND children - that though some might have special requirements for smartphones, they are also, as a group, those most likely to suffer from online abuse.

Happily, she also recommends that phones should be kept out of sight of children in the classroom.

Readers are invited to make up their own minds on how convincing are the other arguments put forward by both Professor Livingstone and the 5Rights Ambassador against a school smartphone ban: namely that children are best placed to decide these questions for themselves, and that only a tiny minority of children, who use their smartphones ‘excessively’, are harmed. I couldn’t possibly comment!

Happy half term.

I write from darkling England and thought I would indulge in some Virtual Reality travel by carrying out a whistle-stop tour of other countries and their schools’ smartphone policies.

What should they know of England who only England know etc; I certainly find that the survey makes the UK look sluggish if not retrograde compared with countries both neighbouring and far-flung.

Enjoy!

Will

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Parentkind’s National Survey

But first, before departure, more bleakness and grimness from Parentkind’s excellent recently published National Parent Survey.

Well done to Frank and Jason for their continued work championing parents’ voices on these and related questions, and giving us such a clear picture of the way UK children are using / being used by their smartphones.

• Almost a third (31%) of older teenagers say they are exposed to ‘sexist, racist or homophobic opinions’ at least once or twice a month, and nearly one in five older teenagers (17%) say they receive ‘extremely violent or gory images’ at least once or twice a month.

• A third (35%) of older teenagers have been sent a sexual image or message by a stranger, with girls twice as likely to receive unwanted sexual advances than boys (47% v 23%).

• Most older teenagers (58%) have never had controls put on their phone by parents to limit access to what they can view online. Even when controls are put in place, almost half (47% of those with controls imposed) said they had bypassed them.

• Four in ten older teenagers (42%) admit that their smartphone is distracting them from school work ‘most weeks,’ with a similar number (43%) saying ‘social media has distracted me from school work enough to impact my grades.’

• 45% of older teenagers say they stay awake beyond midnight looking at their smartphone ‘most weeks.’

• Two-thirds (67%) of older teenagers agree that smartphones are harmful, while three-quarters of older teenagers (74%) believe that social media is harmful.

—

To complete this merry picture, add in this week’s updates from the Online Safety Act Network:

• The latest figures from the IWF show a significant increase in extreme AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery and its availability on the open web; C4 News reported on the organisation’s findings.

• Internet Matters has produced new research on children’s experience of deepfakes.

World Tour

Intro

Manos Antoninis, director of UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report, is one of the most authoritative voices who has been looking at the global picture.

Citing data for 2023, Antoninis said almost a quarter of all countries – 24% – had introduced some sort of policies or legislation on the issue by last year. The recommendation to do so from UNESCO itself is cited by many ministers when providing a rationale for the move.

Several European Union member states, including France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, and Romania have already taken decisive steps to remove mobile phones from schools. In France, the use of mobile phones during classes has been banned since 2010, and since 2018, they are also prohibited during breaks and meal times. Sweden opted for mobile-free schools due to deteriorating PISA results.

Steps have been taken to curb the use of phones in schools in countries such as Nigeria, Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, South Korea and New Zealand.

There are no official bans in Poland, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and Croatia, but schools have the choice to take individual measures, which many have done.

There is of course plenty of individual nuance and experimentation. For instance, Portugal is experimenting with a compromise by introducing a number of phone-free days at schools each month, while in Spain schools in some autonomous regions have imposed a ban but there is no nationwide prohibition.

Ireland

Ireland is the only country I’ve come across so far that has moved to invest (9M Euros) for every child to have their own pouch.

A fantastic initiative. Would that England do the same!

Hungary

From September 2024, smartphones in Hungarian schools have to be put into lockers and are returned after all classes have ended.

The ban was passed by the ­Hungarian parliament this year and came into force at the start of the school term “as part of an effort to minimise ­distractions for students”.

Last month, people took to the streets of Budapest to protest against the dismissal of a principal who refused to implement a smartphone ban!

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has gone further than England in its new guidance published last month:

Education Minister, Paul Givan, has today issued new guidance to support school leaders in restricting the personal use of mobile phones throughout the school day, including at break and lunch times.

Of special note - and commendation - is Mr Givan’s delicate rolling out of the initiative via use of a pilot:

The new guidance will be accompanied by a pilot of phone free solutions, which prevent pupils from using their phones during the school day. These are a pocket-sized fabric pouch with a magnetic latch that is sealed at the beginning of the school day and opened using a special unlocking base. The Department will invite expressions of interest for the pilot from schools over the next number of weeks.

Read to the end of this week’s edition to see a special report from our colleagues at SFC Northern Ireland!

Italy

Italy’s new policy is a step in the right direction but looks a little underwhelming, seeming to focus most of its efforts on primary.

The announcement was made by Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara on Wednesday, marking a significant shift in the country’s approach to technology in classrooms.

The new policy will apply from primary levels through to junior high school (scuola media), while the use of tablets and computers will still be permitted, provided they are used under the direct guidance of a teacher, Valditara specified.

“I don’t believe that good teaching can be done with a cell phone until middle school,” Valditara stated at an education conference in Rome. He described the restriction as “an important step forward” to restore teacher authority and to combat issues such as bullying and violence.

Australia

South Australia have now marked a year since going phone-free. Here’s what they report:

School reporting data from the state indicates a 63 per cent decline in "critical incidents involving social media" in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2023 before the ban.

The government also says there's been a 54 per cent drop in behavioural issues, 44 per cent fewer "policy compliance issues" and 10 per cent fewer violent incidents.

And when the ban began, principals reported "immediate changes" in student behaviour, according to authorities.

Netherlands

Cell phones, smart watches, and tablets are now banned for pupils at Dutch primary and secondary schools. The Dutch government called them a "distraction" that reduces academic performance and social interaction.

Measures came into effect this September saw all primary and secondary school students prevented from bringing their phones into school in the first place.

We like measures that remove smartphones from the school premises entirely!

Belgium

Smartphones are banned across primary and secondary schools in the French-speaking regions, though a high level look at the policy suggests that children may keep their phones on them if they are in bags or pockets - a policy we know is fraught with problems.

USA

Anyone who has been reading this newsletter over the months will know the importance of the US - and Jonathan Haidt in particular - to the smartphone discourse. We also know it’s an issue that will typically be left to individual states to decide.

Here’s a useful interview with Johns Hopkins University on the evidence for smartphone bans in school:

Q: How does student cell phone use in classrooms affect teachers? What are you hearing from administrators and teachers and seeing firsthand in schools?

Anderson: So many educators have told me they’re unable to do the jobs they’re called to do because of the constant disruptions. Whether students have earbuds or headphones, they’re distracted. As a society, we’re losing our capacity to say that the time spent at school is sacred for learning because we’ve disrupted it with constant images, sounds, and actions that detract and distract from the day-to-day mission of instruction.

France

France is piloting a ban on mobile phones in schools called the "digital pause". The trial began in the 2024 school year and is being implemented in nearly 200 middle schools. The goal is to reduce the amount of time children spend on screens, which the government believes can negatively impact their development.

The trial differs from the previous law, which only prohibited the use of phones during school hours. In the trial, students must give up their phones when they arrive at school and keep them locked away for the entire day, including during recess. The plan is to enforce the ban nationwide starting in January 2025.

This new trial affects more than 50,000 students. According to France24, it is part of the government’s effort to improve school climate; reduce instances of violence, including online harassment and dissemination of violent images; improve student performance by boosting the ability to concentrate and acquire knowledge; and raise students’ awareness of the “rational use of digital tools.”

Greece

Students at schools in Greece are required to keep their mobile phones inside their bags at all times during lessons.

The new regulations and system of penalties are an extension of rules announced by Education Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis in March which saw students face expulsion for filming classmates and ridiculing them online, in a bid to clamp down on cyberbullying.

"Students can bring their mobile phones to school, but they must keep them inside their school bags during the entire school day," Mitsotakis said in Athens on Saturday as he announced the ‘Cellphone in the School Bag’ campaign.

Again, not holding my breath on a huge impact with this one..

Norway

Not strictly related to schools, but as reported this week,

Norway Plans to Raise Social Media Minimum Age to 15 (LINK)

Norway has announced that it will be raising the minimum age to use social media from 13 to 15. The Scandinavian country says it is cracking down on tech companies that are “pitted against small brains” and trying to protect children from “the power of the algorithm.”

The changes have yet to be explained in detail, but it looks like Norway will amend its Personal Data Act so that any users of social media platforms will have to be 15 to consent to have their data collected, and there will some form of age verification required to do so. This will prevent kids from simply clicking through, claiming to be older than they are, but this may be tricky to implement.

Report from SFC Northern Ireland

Massive congratulations to Joanna, Rosalind and their team at SFC Northern Ireland for a great showing at ResearchEd recently.

Below is their report:

SFC Northern Ireland at ResearchEd Conference

Our SFC Northern Ireland regional leaders group presented at the ResearchEd conference, held at Carrickfergus Grammar school on Sat 28 Sept. ResearchEd is a big evidence based conference which is hosted in various locations across the world and it was first time it has come to Northern Ireland. The goal of researchED is to bridge the gap between research and practice in education. Researchers, teachers, and policy makers come together for a day of information-sharing and myth-busting.  

SFC NI held a session on "Leading Smartphone Free Schools" at which the team gave various perspectives on the issue:

●     Joanna Karlic (SFC NI regional leader) introduced SFC and gave a bit of background on how the movement came about.

●     Michael Allen, principal of Lisneal College, Derry was the key speaker, and he spoke about his journey of making his school smartphone free. His presentation is summarised below.

●     Rosalind McClean (SFC NI regional leader) presented the primary school parent perspective and spoke about the local pact success so far.

●     Dr. Peter Cosgrove (paediatrician in emergency medicine) shared data on children’s mental health globally and in NI, and spoke about his experiences working on the front line of emergency medicine.

●     Charlotte Carson (teacher and education union activist) concluded with the realities in the classroom and a call to action to those in the room.

—

Tackling the Smartphone Epidemic in Schools: A Principal’s Journey to a Healthier Learning Environment - Michael Allen, Lisneal College, Derry

Smartphones didn’t become a problem overnight; their presence in schools gradually snowballed over several years. Initially, phones were a minor topic of conversation in Senior Leadership Meetings, but soon enough, they became a recurring issue. It became clear that the cons of allowing smartphones in school far outweighed any perceived benefits.

The concerns about smartphones boiled down to three key issues:

1. Safety and Well-being of Students

Student safety is a top priority. Just as strangers aren't allowed to walk through the school gates unchecked, smartphones were essentially enabling virtual strangers to enter classrooms every day. Through social media, messaging apps, and games, external influences constantly penetrated students' lives during school hours, often in harmful ways.

2. School Management and Behavioural Issues 

Phones weren’t just distractions; they were creating significant behavior management challenges. Toilets, of all places, had become social hubs. Students would coordinate meet-ups via text during class, leading to large congregations in the bathrooms. The situation escalated to the point where even parents began raising concerns, highlighting how pervasive the issue had become.

3. Learning and Classroom Disruption 

The disruptions caused by smartphones were relentless. Students were glued to their phones, constantly sneaking glances under their desks or feigning the need to use the restroom just to check their messages. Imagine driving and feeling your phone buzz — the temptation to check it is overwhelming, even though you know you shouldn’t. This was the same scenario playing out for students in classrooms, lesson after lesson. In one instance, a confiscated phone buzzed 73 times in a single day. That’s an average of eight notifications per lesson! For students experiencing bullying, these constant notifications were a source of ongoing anxiety and worry, pulling their concentration away from their lessons.

It became undeniable: the negative impact of smartphones far outweighed the positives. A change was necessary.

The School's Approach to Solving the Problem

The principal acknowledged that every school is unique, and not every solution will fit every school. This school addressed the issue by banning the use of phones during the school day. However, the implementation required a practical system to ensure the policy’s smooth execution. A chaotic end-of-day scene with hundreds of students lining up to collect their phones was not an option, so a new process was devised.

Students dropped off their phones with their form tutors at the start of the day and collected them from the same tutor at the end. This required some adjustments to the school schedule but proved to be a worthwhile change.

The school piloted the program with Year 8 students, engaging parents in discussions beforehand. The response was largely positive, with most parents supporting the initiative. The pilot ran smoothly, and over the following months, the policy expanded to Year 9, Year 10, and so on. While the initial resistance was minimal, Year 12 posed a challenge—they were unhappy and initially refused to comply. However, when the principal suggested that non-compliance could result in missing their end-of-year formal, the students quickly reconsidered!

Staff members were also included in the policy, with no phones allowed in the presence of students as a way of setting a good example.

The Transformation: Day and Night

The transformation within the school has been remarkable. Lunchtimes, once dominated by students staring at screens, are now filled with vibrant conversations and active play. Students are engaging with one another, playing sports, and participating in activities rather than sitting in silence, engrossed in their phones. The difference is striking.

Teachers have also observed noticeable improvements in classroom energy and focus. With phones out of the equation, students are more present, engaged, and less anxious.

Of course, there were some challenges raised along the way, but the school tackles them one by one. For example, some teachers expressed concern about being held responsible for any lost or damaged phones, so the principal reassured them that he would take on personal responsibility for such incidents.

In a recent bus duty—one of the few places where students are still allowed to use their phones—the principal observed students glued to their screens, a stark reminder of how far the school has come during regular school hours.

Conclusion

Implementing a phone-free school day has proven to be one of the most impactful changes this school has made in recent years. Though not without its challenges, the results have been overwhelmingly positive. Students are happier, classrooms are more focused, and the entire school community feels healthier and more connected. While this approach may not work for every school, for this one, it has been a true game-changer.

To listen

To end, here is an audio survey on US schools that have gone phone-free:

Well that was a strange week..

Interest in smartphone-free schools saw a massive injection of interest following some exquisite parliamentary hustle from Josh MacAlister MP..

.. so much so that the Department for Education moved immediately to stop the idea dead in its tracks.

Read on for more detail. We press on undeterred..

Ever,

Will

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Big updates

On Tuesday, Josh MacAlister MP launched his Private Members Bill. One provision sought to make statutory (i.e. legally mandatory, perhaps examined by Ofsted etc.) February’s excellent guidance on smartphones in schools.

The BBC, the Guardian and the Mirror covered the story; Josh himself spoke on R4 Today about his aims, whilst SfC’s co-founder Joe Ryrie trailed the big day with an appearance on Monday’s Newsnight alongside a 14 year old who spends 9 hours a day on her smartphone. Even some big dogs from the front bench tweeted in favour.

From our perspective here at SfS it was a tumultuous few hours:

From this headline on Tuesday morning…

To this one by 10PM…

Where does the DfE’s response leave the movement for Smartphone Free Schools?

Legislative change has never been this movement’s top priority.

Of course it would have been wonderful to have the government mandate tougher smartphone restrictions for all schools, and we disagree with the DfE’s position. Heads may “already have the power to ban phones” but this graph from Teacher Tapp shows just how ineffective such bans are:

So we were pumped to see the measure included in Josh’s bill - and there may yet be opportunities for heads and teachers to voice their support for such measures in the coming months.

But we don’t need it.

Firstly, school leaders don’t just have all the power they need to go smartphone-free but, as we have been tracking these past months, many of the leading MATs and schools are committed to doing just that.

Secondly, parents are agitating for schools to go smartphone-free regardless of government measures. Just look at these overwhelming results in a survey carried out by Stonehaven, reported in iNews.

To watch

For those of you who missed our launch webinar, here is 60 glorious seconds of David Smith for you. I hope it convinces you to dig into the whole thing over half term.

Or tune into ITV Tonight’s segment last week - Smartphones: Time to Live Without Them? which featured colleagues from Smartphone Free Childhood and John Wallis Academy:

Tonight also speaks to Headteacher Damian McBeath from the John Wallis Academy in Ashford, who says banning smartphones has been “transformational” for his school. Every morning, pupils place their phones, smartwatches and earpods in a magnetically locking pouch where they stay for the rest of the school day. Pupils can only access phone pouches at the end of the school day once teachers have unlocked the magnets. 

He says,

“Reports of online bullying, reports of incidents or online abuse, it's at a five year low. We were seeing rates of around 29% staff turnover that's reduced down to 17% in the last academic year. I think staff are happier in a school where they know they're protected and safeguarded by the leaders in the school.”

Model letters

A privilege of writing this newsletter is to be shown many of the best ways that school leaders have found to articulate a position on the topic of smartphones.

I often say that schools undervalue the level of moral authority they have on such questions: trust in educational institutions has not seen the precipitous decline seen in other institutions in e.g. politics and religion.

Below is a wonderful example from Jesse Elzinga, Head at Sevenoaks School in Kent, who uses his position as an educator, father and thinker to take a strong practical and moral stance on our issue. Well done and thank you Jesse!

Please get in touch if you’re looking for any support on letters, policies or other communications. We hope to have a library of the best on our site too.

Recommended Reading

UsForThem’s newsletter picked out some of the most egregious revelations from the TikTok leaks (also covered in the Washington Post.)

If you were ever in doubt that better regulation was needed to protect our children from commercial exploitation by the tech industry then just read this except from The Times:

One TikTok executive is purported to have said: “The reason kids watch TikTok is because the algo[rithm] is really good. But I think we need to be cognizant of what it might mean for other opportunities. And when I say other opportunities, I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at somebody in the eyes.”

The unredacted lawsuit claims that TikTok has quantified how long it takes for young users to get hooked on the platform. Internal presentations say that the “habit moment”, as TikTok calls it, occurs when users have watched 260 videos or more during their first week on the platform. This can happen in under 35 minutes, since some videos run as short as eight seconds, the document said.

A report from an internal company group called TikTank noted that “TikTok is particularly popular with younger users, who are particularly sensitive to reinforcement in the form of social reward and have minimal ability to self-regulate effectively”.

The National Parent Survey produced another devastating snapshot of UK childhood’s saturation with screens:

*Screen time and mental health*

~ One in seven (14%) parents say their child spends 7 hours or more on electronic devices per day which is longer than the typical school day.

~ Parents say their child spends an average of 3 hours 20 minutes on electronic devices outside school in a typical weekday

~ Nearly half (47%) of parents say they have had a disagreement with their child over screen time in the last few weeks

~ 6 in 10 (64%) parents say their teen spend 3+ hours a day – equivalent to at least a month a year - on their phone, tablet or playing computer games

~ Nearly 4 in 10 (38%) parents say their child is missing family time as a result of their time spent on devices

~ 1 in 4 (25%) parents say their child has experienced a mental health challenge* in the past 12 months (FSM 40%) [*depression, bullying, sexual harassment, self-harm or eating disorders]

~ 2 in 5 (39%) children who experienced a mental health challenge* in the last 12 months missed school as a result (FSM 43%) [*depression, bullying, sexual harassment, self-harm or eating disorders]

Thanks to Jason Elsom and all at Parentkind for another stellar piece of work.

CNN published this contribution from a real life teenager last week, which threw up some of the practical difficulties of disentangling children from a childhood now embedded in the smartphone:

As for my social life, it’s expected that I’ll like other people’s posts, a social courtesy like waving hi across a hallway. As a teenage girl, I find that Instagram is in many ways necessary to high school life.

Outside of Instagram, I still need a phone.

There are group chats for my homeroom where we post the snack schedule and plan dress-up themes. (“CalcKILLus” was our calculus class group chat on Snapchat last year, used for deadlines, questions and general complaints.) There are group chats to discuss grades, post information about trips and for friend groups.

Roblox is “an X-rated pedophile hellscape”. Roblox has been accused of lying to investors about its user numbers and failing to protect children, a topic that was the subject of a question from Labour backbencher Mike Reader to the Secretary of State in Parliament last week too; meanwhile, Turkey has blocked the platform over child abuse fears. I loved this piece which reexamines the question of risk in children’s life.

I posted this tragic piece on LinkedIN too:

My generation was the first to be granted unsupervised and unlimited access to the internet during adolescence. At fourteen, I was already displaying my nude body on ChatRoulette, dispensing marital wisdom on Reddit. By fifteen, I would make the first of three posts on the subreddit r/amiugly, a forum that encourages strangers to evaluate each other’s attractiveness, despite having never seen each other smile, speak, cross a room, or rotate in three-dimensional space. 15/f and curious what people think, I wrote. I've never been a popular girl and I don't get much attention from guys. My teeth are kind of wonky but I'm getting Invisalign tomorrow. I would make another post the following year, then again at eighteen, to see if I’d gotten any prettier. I sought feedback in other ways too, on other platforms. I posted photos, drawings, collages, songs, videos. I wanted so badly for something to take off, go viral, launch me into notoriety.

Cluny Journal

My Year of Tech and Relaxation

I used to go to the mall to use the internet. Until a few months ago, I would leave my apartment after dinner, carry my laptop five minutes down the road to the Kingsland Shopping Center, and squat on the dirty linoleum floor outside Costa Coffee, one hand balancing my laptop on my knees, the other hand typing out em…

Read more

2 years ago · 266 likes · 30 comments · August Lamm

Quick links and dates for your diary

• I’d missed Giles Coren’s call for Smartphone Free Restaurants last month.

• From the always amazing OSA Network,

  • “A US study has found that frequent social media use was associated with a higher prevalence of bullying victimisation at school and electronically, persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and some suicide risk among students (considering attempting suicide and having made a suicide plan), both overall and in stratified models.”

• EVENT: Is the internet good for children? – lecture by Prof Sonia Livingstone – 27 November

I was keeping some stuff back last week so today’s edition is a bumper.

You’re welcome.

Ever,

Will

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Website, Webinar & Open Letter

Last week’s launch was a blast. We made P4 of The Times, and won a pleasing write up in The Independent:

Bridget Phillipson has been urged to take immediate action to tackle the use of smartphones by children in schools by a group of educators “deeply concerned” about their impact.

In an open letter to the education secretary, 30 education leaders said there is clear evidence that “children at smartphone-free schools do better”, urging her to put in place effective restrictions on their use.

Will the government heed our call? This week will see further developments unfold no doubt.

Please let us know what you think of the new site itself. Plans are afoot for its next phases but what do you think? What needs adding, what needs taking away? We want it to evolve to be as useful as possible to school leaders - so please help us make it so.

Housekeeping: the recording of Thursday’s webinar with our four pioneering heads will be published on our website soon. I’ll include a link in a future update.

—

As headlines go, this one from the BBC was hard to beat. As ever, the devil was in the detail - and in this case the devil was government inertia / reluctance to support school leaders further on this issue. But Kyle is surely right that, absent this support and with all the momentum in our favour at the moment, it’s possible we may not need it.

Key updates

Lord Bethell, a national hero on children’s online safety and steadfast supporter of smartphone-free schools, offers us this excellent briefing note on Baroness Kidron and Professor Livingstone’s recent report on phones in schools:

I thought I would flag to you an important report on phones in schools from 5Rights and Digital Futures for Children at LSE that includes a huge deep-dive into the academic research on strong phone regulations in schools (here). The index of references is itself something worth bookmarking for future use – it really does cover the ground very well.

What did I take out of the analysis of the evidence on tough phone regulations? “They work” – I couldn’t agree more.

I asked Baroness Kidron for the key takeaways/purpose of the report. This is how she put it to me.

“To put the debate in academic context.  This is important because it is increasingly being characterised as emotional and or representing a certain class of parents.  The report is very clear it is a broad issue across all sections of the community and all countries AND  the findings particularly point and the benefits for children who are struggling/least privileged i.e. it cannot be characterised as a middle class moral panic.  

To show that school phone restrictions need to be supported. This is important because the restrictions only work if they are fully supported by, lockers (or their equivalent), literacy, and the will of the school community - including the parents and children. So a blanket ban with no input or support for  the school community is not enough.

To say that there has not been enough research.  Including research about wellbeing.  (We are going to do more of that).  I.e., that academic outcomes are not the only measure. We think that when wellbeing is also measured the case will be even stronger.

To say that there is evidence that good schools do this anyway. E.g. outstanding Ofsted schools disproportionately have phone restrictions.

And finally,

To say they work.  I cannot exaggerate what the evidence shows, but on the balance of evidence it clearly gives kids a break and helps academic concentration/achievement.  It also usefully points to a part of the world where they allowed total tech across schools and are now pulling back.

Restricting phones in schools is a good idea which I fully support, but it is a step on the road not the final solution.  When I was in Canada they brought in a school ban, and kids immediately went to chatting on google classroom.  Ditto, I have had representations from parents with SEN or children with disabilities.  Again that is simply common sense to accommodate them in how phones are restricted.”  

We all come at this debate from different directions, but it hugely encouraging to see a high-profile organisation like 5Rights and Digital Futures for Children at LSE come this firmly behind the principle of tough restrictions for schools.

“They work” – I couldn’t agree more.

I look forward to working on this cause with a growing coalition of important advocates.

Petersfield and North London are taken!

In our march through the merry market towns and neighbourhoods of the UK, I’m glad to report that two more key areas have fallen.

As ever, this shows the amazing collective power when groups of schools get together with groups of parents to act.

Here is the Petersfield Declaration:

The amazing Nova, one of the leading lights of SfC North West London, had her school meeting written up on the BBC here.

Leading schools in North West London, such as Belmont School, King Alfred and Queens Park Community School have set a precedent by working towards removing smartphones from schools entirely and allowing only basic "brick phones." The initiative aims to provide children with 7-9 hours of smartphone-free time each day. 

Reading

Teenage social media use strongly linked to anxiety and depression (LINK) —

A authoritative and consequential piece of research conducted by Oxford University research, reported on by the FT:

Oxford university research comes as number of children treated by NHS mental health services surges

“We found a linear relationship between higher rates of anxiety and depression and time spent networking on social media sites”, said John Gallacher, professor of cognitive health.

Children’s reading faces its biggest challenger yet (LINK) —

I loved the New Statesman’s whole review of Sam Leith’s new history of children’s literature, which ended with this foreboding note:

Books have endured the rise of TV, cinema, comics and games, but it seems to me that something very different is happening now. The pandemic hugely intensified children’s relationships with screens. Schools accelerated this with online homework.

We have no idea where this is leading us. But here is one example: the soothing, anodyne children’s animation Cocomelon, the most watched children’s show on Earth, sits on YouTube, where the metric of success is how long you stay watching. Frictionless viewing is everything. It’s not (yet) written by algorithm, but its writers already avoid some of the human punctuation points of storytelling – characters’ bedtimes, for instance, because they’re such a strong signal to stop watching. Episodes last one, two, even five hours. This isn’t storytelling, it’s sedation, designed to be addictive (hence its nickname “CocaineMelon”)

UK’s business leaders join the fray! (LINK) —

Who wants to set up Smartphone Free Offices??

According to a new YouGov poll, more than two thirds (69pc) of business leaders believe that increased access to smartphones will harm children’s speaking and listening skills.

Winchester girls’ school reports on its introduction of Yondr pouches (LINK) —

Ms Gandee said: "We could see they were getting a stream of message and that was taking them out of the normal routine of the day.

"They would be heads down and not talking to each other, which made me think we must act now before their brains are completely rewired.

"It seems the girls aren't really thinking about their phones as they used to.

"I definitely think heads are up, people are interacting, it's a more sociable school."

We interrupt our usual weekly schedule to bring you…

Smartphone Free Schools goes live

Please visit and share widely:

https://smartphonefreeschools.co.uk

Open letter to Hon Bridget Phillipson MP

We were also thrilled that 30 leading voices in UK schools joined our Open Letter to the Secretary of State calling on more support for school leaders.

See below:

It made it into The Times - see below - and we’re hoping for some more coverage later today.

Hope to see some of you on the webinar later this evening,

Thanks for all your support,

Will (and SfS team)

We only started this newsletter a few months ago and it’s so cheering to see how many of you (and especially how many teachers and school leaders) have found us just through word of mouth. Here’s our graph.

You are all very welcome.

To business: today we are going to focus almost exclusively on Thursday’s launch.

(PS this means that our deep dive into the thoroughly excellent and generally encouraging report on smartphone free schools from Professor Livingstone, Miriam Rahali and Beeban Kidron will wait until next week. Do have a read here though (or via Lord Bethell’s comments on LinkedIN here) if you have time.

Thanks for your time as always,

Will

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Launch

I should say up front: the most helpful way you could support this movement is by

1. Sharing this link to Thursday’s launch webinar

2. Sharing this link to this newsletter

Sneak peak of site

The team at Smartphone Free Childhood have been beavering away on the site design, and I’m delighted to be able to share a first glimpse of it with you our readers. I hope you agree it’s a beauty and we can’t wait to share the full experience when it goes live on Thursday.

Launch webinar lineup

Many of you have asked who is featuring on Thursday evening’s webinar, and whether it will be applicable to primary school teachers / leads (YES!).

I can confirm that some of the leading lights of the SfS movement will be front and centre, many of whose names you will recognise from previous newsletters:

• Tom Rees, CEO of Ormiston Academies, the first MAT to commit to going phone-free.

• Kirsty Rogers, Headteacher at Aureus School in Oxfordshire, which has recently decided to go smartphone-free.

• David Smith, Headteacher at Fulham Boys School, which recently received a lot of press for ‘swapping smartphones for brick phones’.

• Damian McBeath, Headteacher at John Wallis Academy in Kent, whose profile in The Times in January of this year was a watershed moment behind the new impetus for schools to go smartphone-free.

Clare and I will help introduce and host questions.

Quick update

“Labour rules out smartphone ban in schools” — does it?

Many of you sent me the Telegraph piece over the weekend with the government announcement that they are ruling out a smartphone ban in schools.

Our sources reassure us that: firstly, this quote was unsourced so noone is willing to stand behind it as yet; secondly, it presented no new change in the government’s position; and thirdly, that it was likely therefore what is known as ‘kiteflying’ to gauge reaction from stakeholders.

So it requires us to make a loud noise about what we stakeholders think!

Watch this space on Thursday for our further efforts to do just this.

Date for your diary

The Better Phone Project (background on the project here for those who don’t know about it) have their next event coming up and it’s bang in our wheelhouse:

“Smartphones in schools - should they be allowed?”

Oct 16, 2024 12:00PM BST

Register here.

The two-part session will see an in-depth conversation looking at the pros and cons of allowing children to use smartphones in schools and the alternatives. This will be followed by an update on The Better Phone Project and the co-creation journey of new tech solutions which will be alternatives to smartphones.

Quick links,

• Meet the Founder of Yondr. I liked his point about how being separated from your phone for 7+ hours per day provides - amongst other benefits - good preparation for the workplace. (LINK)

• The always deeply research Online Safety Act newsletter had this last week:

Adding to the evidence base, a report from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged children project, produced by the European arm of the World Health Organisation, has found that problematic phone use among children is increasing; the BBC reported on the findings relating to British children, highlighting that 15% of English teenagers (the second highest in the survey) were showing signs that they are affected and that English boys were recording some of the highest levels of gaming time. Symptoms of “problematic” use included: “neglect of other activities in favour of spending time on social media; frequent arguments about use; lying about how much time is spent online; and an inability to control social media use and experiencing withdrawal”. No surprise then that Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that there is “no causal link” between social media and teen mental health issues have raised some eyebrows.

Welcome all our new subscribers.

Each Tuesday, I take a look at what is happening in the movement to make schools smartphone free.

Next week I am going to dive into some recently published studies and surveys of school smartphone bans (here, here and here for the eager).

But given the number of school leaders who have recently subscribed, this week I want to give some specific examples of how schools are implementing and communicating new smartphone restrictions.

But first.. a reminder about the upcoming launch of our website.

Smartphone Free Schools Launch

Please share our Press Release far and wide!

SMARTPHONE FREE SCHOOLS LAUNCH 

We’re on a mission to empower all schools to go smartphone free 

We've got some big news.

On 10th October, we’re launching our brand new Smartphone Free Schools movement, as part of Smartphone Free Childhood. 

We’re bringing together pioneering heads, academy trust leaders, governing bodies, local councils and teachers to create a hub for change – to empower school leaders across the UK to make their schools smartphone free. 

Why should schools be smartphone free? 

When smartphones are removed from the school day, children do better. Schools with an effective smartphone policy are more than twice as likely to be rated Outstanding. One study found that even the “mere presence" of a mobile phone, even if not being used, can result in attention and performance deficits. 

And yet, despite government guidance, only 11% of schools in the UK have an effective smartphone policy. 

We’re on a mission to change that. 

Smartphone Free Schools Launch webinar 

To launch Smartphone Free Schools, we're holding a webinar for school leaders.

We'll be speaking to three pioneering secondary Heads, who've all chosen different ways of reducing the impact of smartphones in their school. 

They'll be sharing what they did, why they did it, and the impact they've seen in their schools.

Click here to sign up for the webinar on 10th October at 8.30pm:

As we’ve seen in Hitchin, St. Albans and Southwark, when parents and schools work together, the social norm can shift overnight.

Contacts: 

Clare Fernyhough Co-Founder, Smartphone Free Childhood

clare@smartphonefreechildhood.com 

Will Orr-Ewing, Smartphone Free Schools

will@smartphonefreechildhood.com

https://smartphonefreechildhood.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/smartphonefreechildhood

Big updates

We have re-taken Hitchin!

The town pushing to delay smartphones for children —

Parents have signed a pledge to delay giving their child a smartphone until the end of Year 9 when most will have turned 14.

William Ransom Primary School, in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, has asked all 25 primaries in the town to join them in requesting that parents do not give their pupils smartphones.

Earlier this year, a group of parents at the school agreed they did not want to give their children smartphones and raised it with head teacher Tony Plunkett, who supported their campaign.

Hats off to Tony Plunkett, Rich Bowdler and all involved.

Which town will our merry band of reconquistadors seize next?

Smartphone Free Childhood records another historic week —

The Guardian wrote up our new function, which allows parents to sign a pact with other local parents to delay buying their child a smartphone:

An online pledge to withhold smartphones from children until they are at least 14 has been signed by parents at 20% of schools across the UK, according to a campaign group.

A “parent pact” organised by Smartphone Free Childhood has been signed by at least one parent at 6,537 schools, with the signatories representing just under 35,000 children. There are 32,000 schools across the UK, including nurseries and pupil referral units.

The pact states that “acting in the best interests of my child and our community, I will wait until at least the end of year 9 before getting them a smartphone”.

Since that piece was published last Thursday, the numbers have gone above 50,000 children at almost 8,000 schools —

Check out the latest stats, and how your county and school are doing, here.

Implementation

Last week’s post looked at how some smartphone-free initiatives are driven by parents, and some by school leaders. Often they are co-driven by a mutually reinforcing partnership between the two.

We want Smartphone Free Schools to be a useful resource for any school leader looking for up-to-date information on the issue, and guidance on how to make changes within their own school.

Here is a wonderful example of a school communicating a significant tightening of their policy with clarity and confidence:

The brick phone rental scheme is an especially welcome innovation, and we look forward to seeing more schools experimenting in a similar vein.

Here is a secondary school making the decision to disallow all mobile phones from the school site altogether.

We know from our own tech use how important ‘default settings’ are. Note in this instance how the school has changed the default from a culture where parents would have to opt-out of allowing their child to take a mobile to school (very hard) to one where they have to give good grounds for opting-in, and even then via a locker.

As far as possible we’d like to see the UK drawing on what is working in other countries. Here is an example from Clapham School, Illinois (US) of how they use what are sometimes called ‘phone hotels’:

At Clapham School, we implemented a program where a phone storage cabinet was placed near the receptionist desk. As students enter the school, they place their phone in the “phone home” and proceed into the school where they learn in classes and interact with one another without phones present.

The advantages of this approach are that the phone is in a secure location and there is a responsible adult present at all times. The presence of the adult is important both for the security of the phones, but also to facilitate accountability for the students. Rather than sneaking access to the phone during passing periods, breaks or lunch, students are more inclined to interact with each other. If a situation arises where the student needs to ask a parent a question, they are permitted to go to the receptionist area to use the phone in a designed location.

Unsurprisingly, these needs have been fairly rare. When the phone is not easily accessible at all times, many of those “needs” seem to evaporate.

Reading

The debate: Should smartphones be banned for under 16s? —

Smartphone-Free Childhood’s co-Founder Daisy had a fascinating tussle with children’s digital rights advocate Dr Sonia Livingstone.

It would be churlish of us to declare who we thought the winner.. But for our purposes vis-a-vis schools, Dr Livingstone conceded the following:

We’re just reviewing the research now. It’s pretty clear that parents, teachers and students would like clear and effective restrictions on use of phones in class.

The trouble is that we have had a policy of ‘bring your own device’ and of incorporating digital technologies into the classroom for educational purposes.

So I suggest it’s time to review our edtech policy more broadly, external. This hasn't been updated since the pandemic, and is currently benefiting big tech and data brokers more than children, according to the evidence.

When we consult children, they agree with some of the risks and problems that Daisy points to.

But they also value their phones, precisely as a way of staying in touch with friends… Our society has cut many of the ways in which children have long been able to play or socialise outside the home.

Quick links

• It is often said that we do not hear the voice of young people enough in this debate. In this BBC World Service episode on Greystones, Ireland’s phone-free town, the testimony from the children themselves is the most compelling in an otherwise riveting account. Their teacher sounds like an absolute don as well (LINK)

• Staying with the BBC, here is a useful survey episode on smartphone-free schools in Northern Ireland (LINK)

• Children under 10 are being reported to counter-terrorism police amid fears they are being radicalised online (LINK)

• Report reveals the parlous current state of online safety in schools across England: Stagnation; Slow Alignment; Over-Reliance on Technical Measures (LINK)

• Myopia on the rise — children's eyesight is steadily getting worse with one in three now short-sighted or unable to see things in the distance clearly, a global analysis suggests. The researchers say Covid lockdowns had a negative impact on eyesight as children spent more time on screens and less time outdoors. (LINK)

It has been another barnstorming week in the world of smartphone-free schools, and we have loads planned for the weeks and months ahead.

New subscribers: welcome aboard! (And check out our past editions here if you want a quick catch up.)

We have lots to get through so I shall leave some updates on international developments to a future week.

Big updates

Smartphone Free Schools is set to launch its own website!

We shall be sending you a full press release very shortly but in the meantime:

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We want to make sure the website gets in front of primary and secondary school leaders up and down the country.

So,

1. Invite a school Head to our launch webinar (and come yourself!)

2. Please share this newsletter to your network (or send me their details)

Launch webinar

The key details again:

To launch Smartphone Free Schools, on 10th October we're holding a webinar specifically for school leaders. We'll be speaking to three pioneering secondary Heads, who've all chosen different ways of reducing the impact of smartphones in their school. They'll be sharing what they did, and the impact they've seen in their schools.

Click here to sign up for the webinar on 10th October at 8.30pm:

https://tally.so/r/me2g6J

To read

Bottom up or top down?

One of the reason we are so excited about MATs moving on this issue is that they often comprise large collections of both Primary and Secondary schools, and can therefore set new collective norms across thousands of pupils at once.

But it is striking to note that sometimes the pressure goes from Secondaries to their feeder Primaries, and sometimes it goes vice versa.

In Devon a group of parents at Primary level have come together to feed into their large local Secondary:

40 families signed up to the pact agreeing that they would not give their children a smartphone until the end of year nine (age 13/14). This represented nearly 45% of the school’s pupils. The group, which is part of the national movement “Smartphone Free Childhood”, aims to engage all the primary schools feeding Kingsbridge Community College (KCC) to support parents in saying no to smartphones.

Read the rest of the story at Devon Live.

In related news, The Times ran a deeper investigation into the St Albans school leaders whose goal is to make the city the first to implement a smartphone-free policy for children aged under 14.

Schools Week report on Ormiston —

Last week’s newsletter celebrated the amazing news of Ormiston Academies Trust becoming the first MAT to commit to becoming smartphone-free.

This week, SchoolsWeek go through the Why and the How of this landmark new policy:

The success of ‘banning’ phones from some of our schools has convinced us it’s not just right but has broad community support, so we’re taking it trust-wide

Jon Haidt on Virginia’s phone-free schools —

I thought the sequencing of Virginia’s model was worth our attention, especially the way it used the state’s resources and directing power:

Virginia has developed a brilliant model for getting to phone-free schools.

1. First, Gov. Youngkin issued a well-researched executive order laying out the destination and the justification: https://doe.virginia.gov/programs-services/school-operations-support-services/cell-phone-free-education-in-virginia-k-12-public-schools…

2. Next, the VA DOE and the governor's wife, Suzanne Youngkin, set up an evening where she and I talked for an hour and it was viewable at hundreds of schools that chose to participate. At those schools, parents and teachers gathered in person to watch the talk for the first hour, and then talk among themselves for the second, about what they want to do. This is a great example of taking collective action at the state level, and then encouraging more of it at the local level.

Bravo to colleagues

Every week brings more schools who are changing their policies to become more smartphone-free. Bravo to them all. I even had time to visit a few this week, and discuss with staff (and students) the various challenges and opportunities.

Below are links to just some of the coverage such schools have received, ranging in reach from the mighty BBC to the yet mightier.. Bracknell News.

Big or small, the media love writing about this story; please let us know if you have stories you would like me to share with them.

1. Forge Valley School

2. Tenbury High

3. UTC Plymouth and Millbay Academy

4. Stamford School

5. St George’s Ascot

6. United Lisbon International School

7. Fulham Boys School (see our previous coverage here)

And we shall undoubtedly see more parents voting with their feet like this one we saw in the Smartphone Free Childhood network…

Quick links

• For those who missed the Australian news, the country has signaled its intention to ban social media for U16s (LINK)

  • The Times followed this up with the encouraging news that UK could follow Australia in banning social media for young teenagers (LINK)

• Massively relevant to schools safeguarding, Churchill found that one in five secondary pupils in vehicle hit or near miss while on phone: some 84% of secondary pupils admit using their phone when walking near roads, with 18% having been hit by a vehicle or involved in a near miss (LINK)

• Meta’s changes to make ‘teen accounts’, covered in Online Safety Act newsletter (always so dauntingly detailed - see here) were subject to some thoughtful reflections from SfS friends Cenn and Damian (LINK)

• Radio 4 Today had a good segment last week discussing smartphone harms (LINK)

• A SfS colleague reminded me of this relevant Ofsted report from a few years ago, which said that sexual harassment in schools and college had become normalised (LINK) The Children’s Commissioner made a similar point in a recent piece in The Sun.

• An academic study into weekend screen use of parents and children associates it with language deterioration (LINK)

• ‘Living Without My Smartphone’ - reflections from a group of teenagers who give up their smartphones for the school week (LINK)

• 7 Documentaries On The Dark Side of Smartphones And Social Media Addiction (LINK)

• TV pair to give up smartphones with Essex pupils for new show (LINK)

Thanks as ever, and until next week,

Will

What a week.

My list of updates runs to 20+ stories but I am going to leave almost all of these to next week.

Because this weekend we saw perhaps the first MAJOR shift in smartphone-free schooling in this country.

Here is the front page of the Guardian on Saturday:

(link)

This was followed up by another front page hit on Sunday, this time from the Sunday People:

(link)

That 35,000 children in the Ormiston Academies Trust will soon have 7+ hours per day free from the malice of teen smartphone use - free from the distraction, the extreme content and the bullying that is the daily experience of so many children in this country - is good news of almost epic proportions, and a major milestone in making the majority of schools smartphone-free.

People like Damian McBeath; Daisy, Clare & Joe; and of course Tom Rees himself deserve huge credit and congratulations from us all.

Here is Tom bossing it on BBC Breakfast:

As I say, there is so much more happening across the UK and the world to make Ormiston far from a one-off but, this week, I thought it best to take stock of a massive and landmark achievement for smartphone-free schools.

Best,

Will

Please share

A rare CPD opportunity at the UK's only screen-free secondary school.

Many of you will have seen the fantastic piece on The Heritage in The Sunday Times - the Cambridge school ran by our colleague Jason Fletcher (who spoke to us on a call earlier in the summer) and his wife Fiona.

It's a gem. I have been on one of their training days. Highly recommended.

Details for booking here.

Please share with anyone who might be interested.

A juicy round-up below of all that’s happening in your world of Smartphone Free Schools. Please keep sending me things no matter how arcane (that’s what the quick links at the end are designed for.)

Subscribe now

Momentum remains higher than ever, and with loads in the pipeline in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

Will

Big updates

UK 2040 Options report —

We’re thrilled for Esme and Matt for their successful launch of their Education - The Ideas report yesterday. After speaking to leading experts, they have set out 10 ideas that could make a difference to the outcomes of children and young people between now and 2040 - and ‘safe phones for U16s’ comes in at Number 6.

I commend the whole report to you. Smartphone Free Childhood has the summary here:

Whisper it, but…

Schools are beginning to move on this issue, school by school, Trust by Trust.

Star Academies (35 schools) are just the latest to issue new guidance to pupils returning from summer. Enacting what we think of as the gold standard, they have brought out a blanket rule: smartphones are ‘locked away’ AND they advise none on site at all. As a novel rider we haven’t seen before, lockers can be hired by parents for a small refundable fee.

Here’s the relevant part of their letter to parents:

How many more trusts will follow the Star?

Read, Watch & Listen

Hats off to our friend & colleague Damian for his starring role in Smartphone Free Childhood’s Back-to-School Special —

The schools across Europe banning mobile phones —

UK government and schools now have so much international precedent to draw upon. Calvijn College was one of the first schools in the Netherlands to ban mobile phones. Four years on, officials report its culture has been transformed. How many UK schools will be able to report similar cultural renewal in years to come?

Still, school officials pushed forward. “Walking through the corridors and the school yard, you would see all the children were on their smartphones. Conversations were missing, the table tennis tables were empty,” said Bakker. “Basically we were losing the social culture.”

For those at Calvijn College, the sweeping tide of change is thrilling. From the moment they began requiring students to either leave their phones at home or lock them up for the day, school officials watched as the culture of the school transformed.

“Basically what we had lost, we got back,” said Bakker. “The students playing with each other and talking to each other. And a lot less interruptions in the lessons.”

A Case Study: Digital Well-being at Vancouver Christian School —

Thanks to for pointing me in Jomo’s direction. The Joy of Missing Out movement (Canada) is striking in its tone - which eschews talk of banning and restrictions and is all about nurturing and celebrating the joy of human connection.

Do watch the brief video for more on how the programme worked in a school in Vancouver.

Joyful Environmental Prompts: JOMO phone boxes replaced no-phone signs and bright, positive campaign posters were installed in the school lobby to promote social connectedness and raise awareness about digital well-being among students and staff in a fun and positive way.

Phone Free Schools are only the beginning of building a digital wellness culture

The Push to Ban Phones in School —

The NYT podcast summarises the state of play in the US:

As students around the United States head back to school, many are encountering a new reality: bans on their use of cellphones.

Natasha Singer, a technology reporter for The New York Times, discusses the restrictions and the contentious debate they have prompted.

SfC - Channel Islands..?

With around 200 schools in France trialing a new initiative to ban phones for all pupils under 15 during the day, many are wondering whether something similar could be done across the Channel Islands.

At Guernsey's Ladies College it is already in force and they have not looked back.

Principal Daniele Harford-Fox says: "France just published a 140-page report, demonstrating the significant harms of mobile phone technology, the Surgeon General in America and the UK's Education Committee has done the same.

Nudify apps used by 1 in 10 children —

Nudify is a new and regrettable word in my lexicon this week. 10% of children report that their friends or classmates have used AI tools to generate nude pictures of other children. The research is drawn from quite a large sample of 1000+ children aged between 9 and 17.

To get an idea of the chaos these types of images can have on a community, read our piece from February about a case in a Washington State high school where several students were investigated by the police for using an “undress app” on their teachers and classmates. The use of these apps has spread to other schools across the country, and in March resulted in the arrest of two middle school students in Florida. 

Quick links

• How CoComelon Captures Our Children’s Attention. I noticed its raw addictive power with my own kids and we took a strong and early stance against it!

• Profits up for French bistro that banned smartphones. No wonder Sandra and Olivier look so happy.

• Marianna Spring’s investigation for BBC Panorama looked at the impact of phones on young people, particularly the exposure of young boys to sexist and violent content.

• YouTube is to restrict teenagers’ exposure to videos about weight and fitness.

• Manrus Hanratty has produced a printable “100 internet dangers for children”.

• Oh - and get ready! has eleven cheery predictions on where AI is going…

  “AI will create an existential crisis of epic proportions…Soon we will all be seeking personhood credentials, and forced to create “safe words” to use with family members to prove our very existence.”

  The Honest Broker

  Eleven Predictions: Here's What AI Does Next

  What a crazy time to be alive…

  Read more

  2 years ago · 600 likes · 122 comments · Ted Gioia