For most children, the step up to high school is a rite of passage. It is also when they are given their first smartphone. But one UK school is set to break this millennial tradition.

Eton College, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the world, is implementing a total ban on smartphones. From September, students will be instructed to leave their smartphones at home. They will then be given an old-school Nokia ‘dumbphone’ when they arrive to start the new academic year.

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Why dumbphones?

Before the iPhone, before feature phones, all cellphones were ‘dumb’. There were no apps, no social networks, no web browsers, and a very limited choice of games. You could make and receive phones calls and send very short SMS text messages. 

Because of these limitations, dumbphones were purely communications devices. And that meant we used to spend a lot less time staring at our screens.

The principle at Eton College hopes that by removing addictive smartphones from the classroom, students will better engage with their lessons.

Phone bans are increasingly common

Eton has chosen to adopt a dumbphone approach because the majority of their students ‘live’ at the school during term time. Banning phones completely could be seen as unfair, cutting boys off from their families completely. Using dumbphones seems to be a decent compromise.

In traditional mainstream high schools, outright bans on phones in the classroom are becoming increasingly common. The Los Angeles Unified School District passed a district-wide school phone ban for students – and the Governor of California wants to see a similar ban implemented across the entire state.

New York City is set to introduce a ban on phones in schools before the new academic year begins. The New York Governor wants to go further still, creating new laws that will ban students from carrying internet-enabled phones. Although a positive step for students, it remains to be seen how such a law will be enforced.

Florida has taken a slightly different approach. Students are permitted to carry smartphones but all schools must block access to social media websites on their WiFi networks. This may not prevent students from using their data plans to surf the web, but it will help to limit some use in the classroom.

A problem that does need to be solved

The use and misuse of smartphones in the classrooms is a very real problem. Distracted students underperform academically, which can have serious implications for their future.

Educators are struggling to find ways that balance the benefits of internet-connected devices (such as access to vast online learning resources) with the dangers of social media. And it may be that the humble dumbphone could be the answer.