Supporting Healthy Smartphone Use

As part of the INSIGHTS series which we’ve featured several times across the academic year, this post feels specifically well timed in today’s ever-changing technological world.  There is an often recurring debate across the education field related to use of mobile phones both in school and at home, and as per the featured article, I think we can all agree that while the use of technology in school should be embraced when linked to functional learning, the broad use of mobile phones for social sites and general ‘doom scrolling’ when in school should not be permitted; it’s why our school has a policy which prohibits the use of mobile phones during the school day.

I want our students to engage with each other at all times throughout the day.  As a school, we encourage active discussion and debate in the classroom at all appropriate times, and our students are given plenty of activities and spaces to enjoy each other’s company between classes, whether that be in the playground, across a chess table, in the sports hall, in our library space, or any of the other spaces around campus. Our canteen tables are adorned with ever-changing discussion prompts, and we urge our students to talk with each other in our shared language of English.

Debate and discussion forms a huge part of our academic provision, from our youngest students as they navigate the nuance of language and discourse, up to our IB students, for whom debate forms a critical element of a variety of areas within the IB Diploma programme and for life beyond school.  Smartphones are generally disruptive to this process and it’s important that we support our students to understand the significant potential impact on physical and mental health that over-use can enable.

There is a place for smartphones at home too, but it must be based on a reasonable use policy and so I would encourage all parents to read Vivek Murthy's suggestions for such use, alongside his very sensible proposals for supporting better sleep patterns and physical activity.

Adults – teachers and parents – must be alert to the impact of technology on the children we care for.  As a school, I feel like we have the right balance but we’re always open to further discussion with both our students and parents about how this is enacted functionally on campus.  If you’d like to discuss this in more detail, you are welcome to send your thoughts to your child’s class teacher, via your class/year group rep, or to me directly via principal@naispudong.com.

By Diane Vaughan, Principal.