‘Bell to bell’ mobile phone ban will change classrooms for the better

Wrenching the devices from young hands and locking them away is going to be something of a culture shock - but one that is long overdue.

Edinburgh City Council is about to introduce a ‘bell to bell’ ban on phones, with lockable pouches being introduced in every secondary school. In primaries, kids will put their phones into cabinets - quite why eight year olds actually need mobile phones is surely another debate for another day. What happened to going outside to play and coming home with skint knees and a hole in your jumper?

It is only a matter of time before Fife, I hope, follows suit. It should do so as quickly as possible.

Mobile phones control so much of our lives, it is worrying. Sit on a bus and you’ll see folk scrolling through reels and videos, jumping from a meme to a snippet of a song every few seconds. Our attention spans have been reduced to that of goldfish - and the content we consume is utterly witless.

I grew up in an era when any time on the phone was measured in the cost of the call. To reverse the charges was permitted only in extreme circumstances, and you needed to make sure your conversation was done before the pips. Even phoning the Speaking Clock was frowned upon.

None of that will mean anything to anyone at school right now.

Technology has transformed how we communicate, and opened up a world of knowledge and information we didn’t have at school unless we carried an entire series of Encyclopaedia Britannica on our backs.

I’m old enough to remember being in the first maths class to get a calculator, even if all we seemed to use them for was typing in 5318008 and turning the screen upside down to read ‘boobies.’ Maybe that’s why I failed my maths O-Grade. Twice.

The technology which shaped our classes is utterly lame compared to the digital era, and the advent of AI will transform the landscape once more.

Separating kids from their phones has far more benefits than disadvantages. A pilot programme at two secondary schools in Edinburgh, where phones were put into lockable pouches, actually won overwhelming support from parents and the majority of young people.

Removing the on-screen distraction and breaking the habit - even temporarily - of constantly touching the keypad to see what is happening is a positive.

With a few exceptions, we don’t need to be in constant contact - we never have.

I’m not sure if FOMO - the fear of missing out - has struck down an entire generation or there is some anxiety that something might happen and we won’t be able to respond immediately, but something has to change, and locking phones away for a whole school day is a major step forward.

The world will continue to spin, teachers will get some peace to actually teach, and young minds can concentrate on lessons rather than the banality of TikTok. Classrooms are places to learn, and that means paying attention.

A bell to bell ban has to be the start.

Technology changed how we communicate., and now it is shaping when we can communicate with lockable pouches making a positive difference in classrooms and concert halls. They don’t come cheap, but they are worth the investment.