I have recently been thinking about phones in schools again, and yes I know we should be over this topic by now however the issue at hand had me thinking a little different about the issue.  Basically, I missed an important call on my mobile due to having Do Not Disturb in place as it was later on in the day.   Now having missed the call it got me thinking there clearly must be a way to override do not disturb such that a few key people could call me, and where my phone would ring, even when do not disturb is on. 

For those who aren’t aware Do Not Disturb allows you to set your phone up such that your notifications, your alerts, your calls and messages are supressed during certain hours of the day, such as in the evening when you are trying to get some sleep.  And you can decide which apps or callers you will allow.

It turns out it is very easy to set overrides such that certain individuals can call you, or certain apps will notify you even when Do Not Disturb is on.   And as I dug a bit further I found that you can also trigger on other things rather than just time, so you can setup a work mode which triggers when you are near a particularly location such as your work.   So, this mode might be setup to stop notifications and calls during the work day.

All of the above is good, but this got me thinking about all the functionality which is now in the modern smartphone specifically to help us manage distractions and our time on our phones.    I for example track my screen time which current averages at around 2hr 48min.   But the issue will all of this is who is actually telling people about all of this functionality and how to use it?    In my case I had a need to use it, and knew it was likely there plus how to search for the relevant info to get it all setup.  But what of the student who doesn’t identify a problem with their screentime, distraction, etc despite high volumes of use or even addiction?    What if the student who knows they have a problem but doesn’t know there might be a solution or doesn’t know how to find it?  

I cant help but think the tech companies do a good job of adding this functionality, thereby showing their efforts to protect people and to empower them to make decisions as to their device use, etc, however I am also conscious of their need to please their shareholders and to make profit.   The cynical me wonders if the lack of press or training or awareness regarding all this good functionality, is simply the outcome of needing and wanting to keep peoples eyes glued to their devices, and to keep the money flowing in.

Aside from the above, maybe we also need to acknowledge the issue isn’t solely the tech companies issue and that we, the users actually have some agency here.  We can choose to look at our phones less, to explore the safeguarding and wellbeing functionality which is available and to turn it on where possible.    Sadly, I feel the effort of turning on the functionality which might help us, is often greater than the effort required to point at vendors, blame them and expect them to address the challenge.

So have you looked at the wellbeing controls on your device or on your kids device recently?   And if not, it might be worth doing so.

Artificial intelligence

I don’t see the discussion of artificial intelligence in education going away as there is such potential.  The use of AI to support students, to help teachers and rebalance workload and much more.    It also makes for a good talking point for conferences or for developments.    I have two problems though.   One being that I think there will be a lot of talk, especially from vendors, without the reliable evidence supporting the impact and benefit of their tools.    As such I feel there will be a lot of misdirection of effort and resources when looking across schools in general.    Two is that artificial intelligence is all well and good, but it needs the relevant access to devices, to infrastructure, to support and to trained and confident teachers.    These digital divides need to be addressed before schools in general can then seek to use AI and leverage its potential benefits.

Online Exams

The issue of online or digital exams feels partly related to the sudden growth in AI and the resulting potential for AI marking of student work and therefore for AI based marking of student exams.    Again, I see this as another talking point for the year ahead but again am not sure we will see much real progress, possibly seeing less progress in this area than in AI.     The issue is that exam boards are taking things very tentatively so there first step will be “paper under glass” style exams which simply take the paper version of an exam and digitise it rather than seeking to modify the exam or examination process to benefit from the new digital medium.    For me the key benefit of online exams will be realised when they are adaptive in nature so can be taken anywhere and at any time.   This then means that schools wouldn’t need access to hundreds of computers for their students to sit an English GCSE exam as the students could sit the exam in batches over the day or over a number of days.    This would help towards the digital divides issue as it impacts online exams as schools wouldn’t need as many devices, but they would still need the infrastructure and the support to make digital exams work.

Mobile Phones and Social Media

Oh yes, and then there’s this old chestnut!   I suspect the phones and social media discussion will trundle on.   Students are being given phones without any parental controls and then schools are having to deal with this.   And some schools are taking the prohibition approach which is unlikely to succeed and may just deplete patience and resources.   I continue to believe we should be seeking to manage student mobile phones in school, so might restrict use in some areas and at some times but embrace and use them at other times.   We need to spend time with students talking about social media and its risks and benefits helping to shape the digital citizens which the world needs.

I also note here that social media is being blamed for the lack of focus and ease of distraction in students, and through association it is the fault of smart phones.    The world isn’t that simple, and having recently finished reading Stolen Focus by Johann Hari I am not more aware that other factors such as increasing levels of societal pressure to succeed, increased consumption of processed foods and our on-demand culture are all having an impact on our children.    Yes, social media, and by extension smart phones are playing their part but they are not the root and sole cause of the issues in relation to attention which we are seeing in schools and more broadly with children.

Fake news and deepfakes

This links to AI and also to mobile phones and social media, in the increasing ease with which fake news content can be convincingly developed including the use of images and video, and then shared online.    As fake news becomes an increasing issue, which I suspect the US elections will draw some focus on, there will be an increasing need for schools to consider how they discuss and address this challenge with their students.   More locally within education and within schools will be where we start to see increasing use of AI tools to create “deepfakes” by students and involving other fellow students, either “just having a laugh” or for the purposes of bullying.     This will be very challenging as the sharing of such content will quickly stretch beyond the perimeter of schools, spread through social media, messaging apps and the like, but where the victim and likely the perpetrators will be within the school.   

Wellbeing

This one came to me last, but if I was re-writing this I would likely put it first.   We talk about wellbeing very much but every year we look to see if the exam grades have gone up and are faced with increasingly compliance requirements around safeguarding or attendance or many other areas.    Improvements in results, or even the efforts to improve results mean more work, which means more effort and more stress.    More compliance hoops equally mean more effort and more work.    So how can we address wellbeing if educators are constantly being asked to do more than they did previously.   And exam results and compliance are just two possible examples of the “do more” culture which pervades society possibly driven by the need for economic and other growth as something to aim for.    Although growth and improvement is something laudable to seek, it cannot be continuous over time, not without deploying additional resources both in terms of money and human resources.    As such there needs to be a logical conclusion to the “do more” culture and my preference would be for us to decide and manage this rather than for it to happen to us.    AI can help with workload for example giving more time for wellbeing however my concern here is that this frees up some time to simply do more stuff, albeit stuff which might have an impact, but not positively on wellbeing.

Conclusion

The above are just five areas I see being cornerstones of educational discussion in the academic year ahead.   I suspect other things will arise such as equity of opportunity, although I note this links to pretty much all of the above.   There will also be other themes which arise but it will be interesting to see how these particular five themes develop during the course of 2024/25.

And so with that let me wish everyone a successful academic year.    Let the fun begin!

I have recently been reading an interesting book on depression, Lost Connections by J. Hari, as this is something I feel I have struggled with at times, albeit this is a self-diagnosis rather than any form of clinical diagnosis.  Personally, I feel we all suffer depression to a greater or lesser extent, albeit maybe not clinical, at various points in our lives in response to events, challenges and other issues.   Within the book Johann points to societal issues being partly responsible for the increasing number of people suffering anxiety and depression, also talking about societal “junk values”.   This got me thinking about digital addiction and phone use, and my interest was further encouraged by a post from Mark Anderson where he provided some statistics in relation to phone use (see the post here).   But what if our addiction and increasing use of our phones, and other digital devices, isn’t the cause and the thing we need to seek to ban or reduce, but is actually the symptom of a different and broader issue?   Now I don’t propose to have solutions here but this post is about throwing out some thoughts and ideas.

Fame and likes

We have all at some point looked up to a famous person and thought, “I wish that was me”.   Whether it was a famous singer, an artist, or a movie star, I think we all generally want to be more than we are.  Now I am not sure if this want to be better, as measured by others, is intrinsic or whether it has been conditioned over time.   The adverts we consume on TV tell us we need to buy this body spray, or this car or that running shoe to be better so maybe we come to believe we need to be better.   Then in steps social media providing a measure of our fame, with the count of friends or likes, and we chase the thing we can measure rather than what we really want which is to be better.  And so we are forever on our phones seeking to post and share hoping to go viral and get all those likes, rather than looking towards ourselves, being comfortable in our own skins and seeking to be better but in our own eyes and on our own terms.   So is our excessive phone use a symptom of a need to have ourselves validated by others, rather than seeking to value ourselves?

Connectedness

I think it is important to acknowledge that we are still animals in some sense, albeit very intelligent ones, but we still have so much in common with the apes we came from back in the mist of time.   And as animals we need that connectedness, that social interaction of the herd or troop, and again in steps social media and our phones with connectedness on steroids.  Suddenly I am connected to friends, family and many more people, those with similar views and interests and this connection is constantly updating.    The issue here, as I have posted in the past, is that this online connectedness, although it appeals to our inner needs, it doesn’t truly address them so we find ourselves retreating from face-to-face, proper connectedness which will fulfil our needs, in favour of easier but shallow technology enabled connection.   We maybe therefore need to spend less time on digital connectedness and more time on actual connectedness.

Fear of missing out

I have already mentioned how our digital world is constantly updated and always on and this in itself breeds an issue, being we develop this fear of missing out (FOMO).   We are worried about missing out on important information, or the latest viral craze, so we seek to be constantly checking our devices for updates.   We might even become worried that there is something wrong when we haven’t received an update or our phone hasn’t buzzed for a period of time.    We build the habit of constantly checking our devices and constant vigilance to the call of our device for attention whether that be a buzz, a chime or a flashing screen.    But maybe there is another way and maybe we need to spend more of our time and our focus on being in the moment and experiencing our current environment, the company we are in, and the discussion, rather than bothering so much about the online conversations we may or may not be missing.

Efficiency and always connected

The world is only getting busier as we constantly seek to add more tasks and seek to get better.   If you were to look back on the last 6 months and list the extra things you are now doing I suspect we all would have at least a few items however if I was then to ask you to list the things you have stopped or been asked to stop doing, I suspect a shorter list, or maybe blank list would result.   If we do X this will make Y better sounds logical whereas if we DON’T do X this will be make Y better, doesn’t sit as comfortably with us.   And so we create this illusion of the need to be hyper-efficient, always on, always moving, and our devices are happy to play to this.   They facilitate us being connected, us collaborating, us communicating, anywhere, anytime.    But is this truly what life is about, to get as much done as possible and be constantly focused, or is there value in disconnection, quiet contemplation and meditation? 

Commercial interests vs. the user

In writing this post I couldn’t miss raising the issue of the device manufacturers and the platform developers.   They are commercial entities with shareholders.   They want profit and profit comes from keeping users buying their products and their services, keeping them using devices and staring at screens.   They want you alerted and increasingly are pushing further and further into our existence.    Most of our discussion on devices focuses on phones for example, yet now how many of us have wearables such that the notification is unavoidable being strapped securely to our wrists or in future, in the glasses we need to wear to see?   So these companies don’t have our best interests in mind and their approach to dealing with people’s concerns is to provide controls and data for the individual to use to manage their own usage.   But humans aren’t particularly great at doing what is best for themselves as individuals, just consider alcohol, smoking and more recently vaping.   And when faced with a societal push to stay connected, FOMO and much more, the companies must know that putting the control in the hands of individuals will see little progress, although it will allow them to say they did what they could while still reporting positive usage data back to their shareholders.  I think this is where society has to play a part rather than focusing on either the profit-focused companies, or the ill-equipped individual to solve the problem.

Conclusion

I suspect I could write much more on this topic and as I write this I can see so many opportunities for further research.    Rather than seeking to ban, which I am against, or manage, which I am much more supportive of especially in schools, do we need to ask the question of why we are all so quick to reach for our phones and digital devices?   If we consider our usage a problem, then surely we need to get to the why, the cause, as opposed to seeking to address the symptom which is the eventual usage.   Maybe even discussing this with our students will help?

My sense is that a large part of the issue is the values which society currently applies to us.   It isn’t enough to just be me but I have to attain status, I need to be hyper-connected, I need to work stupidly hard and efficiently, and I need to show other people all of this, and our devices deliver on these needs, or at least appear to.   As long as we continue to address this at an individual level, which tends not to work, we fail to get into the bigger problem but how do we bring about societal change?   One step at a time?   One blog post at a time maybe?

Before I go any further let me acknowledge that schools operate in vastly different contexts across the world and even within the UK.    As such all I can offer is a general viewpoint based on the schools I have worked upon.   I will therefore accept that there are contexts where it is totally appropriate and advisable to ban student mobile phones.   I suspect the most common reasoning is likely to be due to challenging student behaviour.     I do not however accept that banning mobile phones is the correct approach for all or even most schools. 

So, what are my reasons for this view:

Digital Citizenship

We wish to develop our students as digital citizens ready to live in an increasingly digital world.    In our digital world the mobile phone and other mobile devices, plus the apps that run on them are becoming more important.   As such we need to work with students to understand how to best use mobile phones and also how to use them safely and responsibly.    If we don’t tackle this in schools then we leave it to chance that students will be able to manage their mobile technology use themselves.

Digital skills and familiarity

The pandemic required us to quickly pivot to online teaching and learning.   For those schools which were already using technology widely in face to face lessons, this was easier than it was for those schools who were teaching in a more “traditional” and technology-less manner.    If we accept that online teaching and learning may happen in future, whether due to a pandemic or maybe just a snow day, then we need to get students used to using technology across the curriculum and their studies.  Using mobile phones constructively in lessons helps towards this, whereas banning mobile phones removes a potentially beneficial technology from the classroom.

Cyber Security

One of the key security features to keep online services safe is the use of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).   This is something we need to be applying to our school services including student accounts, plus something we need to encourage students to enable for their personal accounts.   Mobile phones as the second factor are key to this.   Banning mobile phones means we cannot enforce and encourage MFA use, thereby making our school systems and our students less secure.

Conclusion

As I said, I understand that contexts exist where banning mobile phones might be acceptable and even the best solution.   I don’t however believe this to be an approach which should be applied to all.   I very much believe that school leaders are the best people to judge their own schools context and the approach they wish to take towards technology use and the use or not of student mobile phones within school.

My view is that student mobile phones are a technological swiss army knife of tools.   With them students can search for information, record key learning from lessons, explore new worlds and many other things.   They are also likely to play a key part in students lives beyond school and therefore it is important we start developing the relevant skills and understanding as to their positive use, starting in schools, starting now.   Mobile phones, with their biometric authentication, combined with MFA, also help to make students digital existence more secure.

Given all that has happened over the last year or so, and the critical part that technology played plus the issues around access to appropriate student devices, I find it strange that we are still discussing a blanket ban of mobile phones, a technology device, from schools.    We should be seeking to make more and better use of technology in schools not banning it.

I have repeatedly stated my view, in that I am for allowing mobile phones in schools.    In the real world we all have phones vying for our attention.   Some adults manage this potential distraction and even addiction better than others.    It is due to this I feel we have a duty to work with students and help them learn to manage their mobile devices and their online presence along with the potential resultant distractions.   If teachers don’t spend time working with students to discuss and consider these issues then who will?

The one question that I would like to raise via this post is, has anyone thought of discussing this issue with students?     We are hearing plenty for educational bodies and individual school leaders and teachers but what about the students.    Have we discussed with them the concerns that those who wish to have mobile phones banned have?    Have we discussed with them the potential positive benefits of having mobile devices in school and in classrooms, along with the potential ways that such devices could be used?    Have we asked them what they think?    Have we discussed creating an agreement for the proper use of mobile devices in school, developed collaboratively between staff and students?

To me banning something is seldom effective.   Work arounds are created making bans ineffective.  Students might simply get sneaky, trying to use their devices when their teachers aren’t looking.   Some students may develop more creative solutions to get around bans.    I suspect the Smart watch may be one such work around.   The students phone would be silent and out of sight however their Smart watch would allow students to continue interacting with social media without ever having to get their phone out and get caught for having it.    Are we going to start banning watches next?

The argument regarding mobile phones in schools continues to draw polar views, as is almost always the case on social media.    The answer, in my eyes, as is the case in most things in the “real” world, lies between the polar opposite views.   For me the answer is to allow mobile phones but to discuss their proper use and the rules around this with the students.    An agreement has to be developed.   Outside of what is agreed, where students cannot use them responsibly then maybe a ban is appropriate, however I would hope in most schools and with most students, that a shared agreement can be reached and both students and teachers can benefit from having another tool available to use in lessons and around school.