IT·Science Talk

My nephew's school banned phones completely. A term later, I've changed my mind

When my sister told me her son's school was banning phones for the whole day, not just in class, my first reaction was that it was old-fashioned. Teenagers need to learn to manage technology, not hide from it. I work in marketing, my whole job is screens, and I was quite sure about this.

One term later, my nephew, who is 14, told me something that surprised me. He said lunch is 'loud again'. Kids play cards, argue about football, sit in big groups. He said he was annoyed for about two weeks and then forgot about it.

I know one teenager is not research, and I'm sure some kids have a harder time, especially if they rely on their phone for anxiety or for talking to a parent. But it made me rethink. Do bans like this work where you live? Is it the phone, or the social media on the phone, that is the real problem?