When the schoolbell rings it’s time for pupils to put down their mobile phones

I’m guessing the Scottish Government’s backing to headteachers to introduce a ban on mobiles in classrooms will spark a predictable outcry, but it is one we should support.

We’ve all become accustomed to scrolling endlessly, and mindlessly, through the minutia of people’s lives - from pics of their tea to some inane ‘motivational’ statement on Insta, or some witless TikTok video. It adds up to the square root of nothing of any consequence or importance, but we’re so conditioned it has become second nature.

That level of distraction cannot be conducive to learning, so the power to have phones put away for a lesson can only be a good thing.

We don’t need to be in constant contact - we never have done. I’m not sure whether it has just become a habit to constantly scroll and scroll and scroll, or if the ability to just get on with the day has been eroded by this strange sense of fear, or maybe anxiety, that something might happen and we won’t be able to respond immediately.

I’d love to see phones removed from tables in restaurants and would happily see them blocked on every single flight, domestic and international, and the case for separating pupils from phones in school is surely overwhelming. Classrooms are places to learn, and that means paying attention.

The ever-present itch to just check what’s happening on social media, or answer a text or Snapchat message has to be scratched - and the simplest way to do is to have phones locked. That’d mean some kids going cold turkey. So be it. They’ll survive. The world will keep on spinning.

Phones have become a major distraction in classrooms, and, at worst, have fuelled serious trouble as acts of violence are filmed and shared online. Putting them out of reach for an hour’s lesson is a sensible move - one that would be made a lot easier with parents driving home their support. They have a huge part to play here; after all, they gave the kids their phones in the first place.

What is interesting is to read of the results when such moves have been introduced in other countries. The company Yondr created pouches which phones go into and then are snapped shut until pupils step out of class - it has brought the same technology to concerts to tackle the irritating sight of a thousand phones being hoisted head high as we now view everything through the smallest of screens.

They say pupils are more attentive and engaged, and they also interact far more with their peers in the playground or courtyard. Phone-free, they have rediscovered the joys of childhood - of playing, chatting and having fun. Bullying has also declined, underlining the damaging way some pupils use their phones as weapons to intimidate and abuse.

Smart phones have opened up a world that was simply unimaginable to my generation or those who came before me, and have changed the way we communicate and engage. We’re certainly not going back to the days of phone boxes and trying to get our conversation done before the pips, but maybe it’s only now we are starting to understand the impact mobile technology is having on young brains. A pilot ban in schools would be fascinating to follow.