Right: Non! French president Macron's government has banned the use of cellphones in junior classrooms.
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Arguments in favour of mobile phones being banned from schools
1. Mobile phones are a distraction in the classroom
Opponents of students being able to access their mobile phones while at school argue that these devices have repeatedly been shown to be a major distraction in the classroom.
Incoming University of New South Wales education professor, Pasi Sahlberg, stated in January, 2018, 'I have heard hundreds of stories from teachers here and abroad how having your smartphone in your pocket and sensing the incoming messages vibrating (distracts) students' attention from learning.'
A study from youth advisory group Year13 found 89 per cent of Australian students had used their mobile phones in the classroom regardless of their school's policy.
United States studies have similarly indicated that mobile phones are a major distraction for students. A 2012 study found that 53 percent of undergraduate students reported text messaging during class. A 2014 study examined 99 college students during a 20-minute lecture, which was part of the experiment, and the average number of texts sent and received among each student was 26.79 (14.10 sent, 12.69 received).
A 2013 Ohio University study found college students in a simulated classroom who did not use their phones 'wrote down 62 percent more information in their notes, took more detailed notes, were able to recall more detailed information from the lecture, and scored a full letter grade and a half higher on a multiple choice test than those students who were actively using their mobile phones'.
A 2015 London School of Economics study similarly found that schools which ban the use of phones experienced a substantial improvement in student test scores, with the researchers concluding that phones 'can have a negative impact on productivity through distraction.' Researchers found that phones hurt vulnerable students the most. Study co-author Dr. Richard Murphy, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas, reports: 'Allowing phones into schools would be the most damaging to low-achieving and low-income students, exacerbating any existing learning inequalities.'
Kevin Donnelly, a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University, has argued, 'Successful classrooms are those where teachers are in control and where there no distractions as students don't have the luxury of surfing the net, figuring out what to do on the weekend or updating their social networking sites.
Research investigating how students best learn, especially those in primary school, proves that the most effective way to learn is to hardwire the computer sitting on your shoulders - otherwise known as the brain.
Instead of relying on calculators and computers, students need to memorise times tables, do mental arithmetic, recite poems and rhymes, and learn facts and figures until they can be recalled automatically.'
2. Mobile phones promote cyber bullying
Opponents of the use of mobile phones by students at school argue that they lead to vastly increased instances of cyber bullying which has consequences for young people's mental health, including increasing the likelihood of their developing depression and contemplating suicide.
The recent suicide of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Queensland after cyber-bullying has led to extensive discussion of how best to address the problem of cyber bullying within that state. Commenting on the situation in Queensland, Susan McLean, an Australian expert in the area of cyber safety and young people, who advises the Federal Government as a member of its Cyber Safety Working Group, has stated, 'I am seeing the most violent, vulgar, horrible comments you can imagine... I have kids being photographed in change rooms during sport...Lots of kids are being told to kill themselves and sent links to suicide websites.'
McLean has urged, 'There should be no personal devices used during the school day - it has to be against school rules.'
The decision to ban mobile phones in New South Wales public primary schools was taken after a review, led by child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg, of the effects of mobile phone use upon children. The review, which considered about 14,000 survey responses and 80 written submissions, concluded that mobile phones posed a risk to children psychological wellbeing.
Dr Carr-Gregg stated, 'I'm really worried about the stress a lot of these kids are already under. It's very clear that the vast majority of young people who end their life have a mental health problem, particularly depression. So anything we can do to reduce depression, to reduce stress and anxiety in young people we should do and all schools have a duty of care to provide students with a safe environment in which to learn.'
Similar findings have been made in research conducted in the United States. It has been found that high school students subjected to bullying and other forms of harassment are more likely to report being seriously depressed, consider suicide and carry weapons to school, according to findings from three studies reported at the Paediatric Academic Societies meeting in San Diego in April 2015.
One of the studies, headed by Dr. Andrew Adesman, of Northwell Health's Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, reports that depression and suicide are much more common in teens who have been the victim of bullying in school and/or electronically. Moreover, these risks were additive among teens who were the victim of both forms of bullying.
Their study, 'Relative Risks of Depression and Suicidal Tendency among Victims of School- and Electronic-Bullying with Co-Risk Factors,' presents results from the first national analysis comparing risks associated with the different forms of bullying. Researchers analysed data from a 2013 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of teens in grades 9-12, and found that depression and suicidal thoughts are much more common among teens who have been bullied electronically or at school.
Dr.Adesman stated, 'Although cyber bullying may not pose the same physical threat that face-to-face bullying does, it can be far more hurtful since it can spread like wildfire throughout a student body and take on a life of its own.'
3. Mobile phones use can be addictive and reduces schoolchildren's resilience and sense of wellbeing
It has been claimed that the tendency to seek parental reassurance and to connect ongoingly with peers can be addictive and reduces young people's resilience, promoting anxiety and a reduced capacity to cope with uncertainty.
On July 3, 2018, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article by Dr Danielle Einstein and Dr Helen Wright in which they noted, 'Dependence on immediate communication is responsible for our diminished patience, capacity to calm our own emotions and withstand uncertainty. When this fundamental human ability is in deficit, we see associations with anxiety, depression and reports of physical tension and distraction during NAPLAN testing.'
The doctors continued, 'In Australian research we have seen that the number of co-occurring psychological disorders a person will develop rises with a person's own rating that they have difficulty embracing uncertainty. This should be absolutely fundamental to our approach to educating and bringing up children.'
Dr Danielle Einstein, clinical psychologist, honorary associate, University of Sydney, and psychology department, Macquarie University has further stated, 'The introduction of smartphones has led to a decline in people's ability to cope with uncertainty. Research shows being uncomfortable with uncertainty is associated with students feeling distracted and tense during...tests. The more uncomfortable young people are with uncertainty, the higher the number of co-occurring psychological problems they report experiencing. Smartphone use is associated with the current epidemic of anxiety and depression.'
Dr Einstein has further explained, 'It's about the excessive reliance on the phone to calm worries. Using the phone gives a little bit of info and quells anxiety momentarily. But children need to learn to tolerate uncertainty. There are times when you can't get reassurance.'
These anxiety reactions have been linked to addiction to or dependence on the device. A 2012 review of research literature regarding the propensity for addictive behaviour among mobile phone users in the United States found the tendency ranged from 0 to 38 percent. Even more concerning was that addictive behaviour was most common among vulnerable groups. The review states, 'The personality trait most consistently associated with addiction is low self-esteem, though extraversion is associated with more intense use. Women with low self-esteem are the most vulnerable group, and the most commonly associated psychopathological symptom was depression.'
Anecdotal accounts from schools where mobile phones have been banned support claims of reduced anxiety and dependence. A mother whose daughter attends a school at Perthshire, in Scotland, at which mobile phones have been banned, contacted the school to say, 'The change in [our daughter] is amazing. It's like having our own girl back. No sign of panic or anxiety.
She was previously using her mobile phone to "hide behind" and cope in pressured situations, like break and lunchtime. Now she is not at all worried about putting her phone away during school, and that speaks volumes.'
4. Neither schools nor teachers can adequately monitor students' in-class mobile phone use
Those who oppose students being able to access mobile phones at school argue that it is very difficult for schools or individual classroom teachers to control how students use their mobile phones when they are allowed to bring them into the classroom.
An Australian study has demonstrated that, irrespective of schools' policies intended to restrict or regulate mobile phone use by students, it is very difficult to control student behaviour in this area. A study from youth advisory group Year13 found 89 per cent of Australian students had used their mobile phones in the classroom regardless of their school's policy.
Incoming University of New South Wales education professor, Pasi Sahlberg, has stated, 'Many teachers are upset that they have to serve as police officers, hunting down misusers and those who violate in-school or classroom-based rules.'
Senior research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, Dr Jennifer Buckingham, has similarly stated, 'The likelihood is if you use phones in classrooms, the risks will outweigh the benefits. It's very difficult for a teacher to control what happens every time they turn their back.'
Anecdotal evidence from the United States indicates that American teachers are also having difficulty regulating the manner in which students use their mobile phones. Matt Miles, a high school teacher from Fairfax County, Virginia, was quoted in the Huffington Post claiming that the problem is getting worse. Mr Miles stated, 'Whereas five years ago, I could quietly ask the one rebellious student to put his or her phone away with no real interruption to class, doing that today would require multiple conversations with a majority of my class.'
There have also been reported instances of students actually using their mobile phones to harass teachers. The Queensland Teachers' Union has indicated that it has provided legal support to staff secretly recorded on smartphones by students.
Steve Ryan, the Queensland Teachers Union president, has stated, 'We've had examples where children have deliberately provoked teachers, set them up and when they reacted filmed it on the phone which is then used later for distribution around on Facebook.'
5.Mobile phones reduce students' real world social skills
Dr Tom Nehmy, an Australian clinical psychologist and the founder of the Healthy Minds Program, has stated, 'Smartphones, gaming over Wi-Fi and social media platforms have combined to alter the way young people spend their time. These technology-based pursuits have taken them away from non-screen activities that are associated with greater wellbeing.
[United States research has] found that adolescents who spent more time on non-screen activities such as face-to-face social interactions and exercise were likely to be happier.'
Melissa Ortega, a child psychologist at New York's Child Mind Institute, has suggested that increasing use of mobile phones has reduced young people's capacity to communicate verbally in one-on-one situations. Ortega has stated, 'They don't know how to handle conflict face to face because so many things happen through some sort of technology.
Clinically, I'm seeing it in the office. The high school kids whom I do see will be checking their phones constantly. They'll use it as an avoidance strategy. They'll see if they got a text message in the two minutes they were talking to me.'
Ortega added, 'Another thing I'm noticing is they may have trouble initiating interactions, those small talk situations. They don't have as much experience doing it because they're not engaging in it ever. They always have something else going on.'
Gary Small, a neuroscientist and author of 'iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind' has warned about the consequences of an over-reliance on technology, including mobile phones, in order to communicate. Small has stated, 'Humans send many nonverbal cues, from fidgeting to foot tapping, long pauses to eye contact. Reading those signs is a skill that young people are not learning when they're using these devices.'
Some academics have even expressed concern that excessive use of electronic devices may be impeding communication between children and their parents. Cris Rowan, a paediatric occupational therapist, has noted, 'As children and parents are attaching more and more to technology, they're detaching from each other, and we know as a species we need to connect. We're really pack animals. We need to be connected to other human beings. That's just a fact for any living organism; it doesn't do well when it's on its own.'