Should smartphones be banned for under-16s?
Polls
29th October 2024
Young people have been saying adults just don’t get it when they say smartphones should be banned for children.
A poll by charity Parentkind, of 2,496 parents of school-aged children in England, showed more than half (58%) believe the next UK government should introduce a ban on smartphones for under-16s.
Meanwhile, headteachers in one UK city this year asked parents not to let their children have a smartphone until they are 14.
In a letter to parents, the 20 head teachers in St Albans said that, while phones can be useful for parents to keep in contact while their children are away from home, phones “do not need to have access to the internet” to keep children safe.
In 2018 the French Government brought in a law banning phones in schools for anyone under the age of 15. But, there are no similar laws about smartphones in the UK – yet.
Nine out of ten young people from the NSPCC’s Online Safety Youth Taskforce think it should stay that way. They voted that under-16s should have access to smartphones.
14 Comments
katiebasey · 6 months ago
The phones are expensive and youngsters are clumsy
kb1. · 6 months ago
Some teenagers and children might need to contact their parents if they are walking back from school. Another thing is that a smartphone has a map so teenagers and children could use that to help them get to school. Plus much more homework is getting downloaded online on some websites like google classroom or acrobat. This rule could be changed because smartphones won't do any harm to children and teens. As you can see the government does not know that there can be educational games, homework uploads, school notifications and many more.
This is my opinion on smartphones being banned for under 16s.
Please don't ban it!
laman123 · 6 months ago
Yeah I would luv a smartphone
plinkyone · 6 months ago
Scammers might be looking for a young person to trick
myrealname · 6 months ago
If I couldn't contact my friends during the pandemic that would have been horrible for me
poopyman2 · 6 months ago
No
breezy · 6 months ago
No! Obvs
ethan.ruck · 5 months ago
No
aces10 · 5 months ago
I think if smartphones were banned, young people wouldn’t be so attached to them, and wouldn’t really miss them. So many of my friends are on their phones all the time, and have forgotten how to be social and play games or spend time outside. Banning smartphones would give us a chance to have a proper childhood and develop stronger relationships with others.
fatdogslim · 2 months ago
change to 12. much better
opsm909 · 2 months ago
I voted no because they need to contact parents after school but not for instrigran or tiktok
ninshe0 · 1 month ago
scammers will trick them and people spend too much time on them and then complain about screen time limits
drumsurf10 · 1 month ago
No because you might need to contact your parents. And it also has lots of useful apps like maps, safari and more. Also a lot more school work is being set online.
pinny1117 · 1 week ago
Kids should be able to have the phones at the age of 13 when they start walking alone to home and to school or staying home alone