By Erin, 16
Suddenly, politicians and teachers think the solution to all our problems is banning them in schools. They say phones ruin our mental health, destroy our attention spans, and stop us from socialising. But is taking them away really going to fix anything?
I don’t think so.
Schools across the UK are already cracking down. Some have banned phones completely, no checking messages at break, no listening to music while studying, no quick Google searches in class. But will that make us less anxious? Will it magically make school more engaging? Or is it just an easy way for adults to blame something other than the pressure we’re under?
“I get that teachers don’t want us scrolling in lessons,” says Jake, 17, from Gateshead. “But banning phones completely just makes school feel more like a prison. We already have so many rules, this just makes it worse.”
There’s no denying that social media has its downsides. Doomscrolling can make anyone feel worse, and we’ve all gone down a TikTok rabbit hole instead of doing homework. But phones aren’t just distractions, they’re also how we stay connected, organise our lives, and support our mental health.
“My phone helps me when I’m stressed,” says Amina, 15, from Newcastle. “I use it to listen to music when I feel overwhelmed or to text a friend when I need support. If I can’t do that at school, it just makes me more anxious, not less.”
Instead of outright bans, why not focus on education? Teach us how to manage screen time, how to separate real life from online life, and how to use social media in a way that doesn’t harm us. Treating phones like forbidden objects only makes us want to use them more.
“It’s not the phones,” says Connor, 16. “It’s the fact that school is stressful, and we use our phones to escape that. Taking them away doesn’t solve the real problem.”
If adults want to help, they should ask why we’re glued to our screens in the first place. Maybe we’re anxious about exams. Maybe school feels isolating. Maybe we don’t feel heard. A ban won’t fix any of that, it’ll just make school feel even less like a place where we belong.
This story was written by a young person as part of the Headliners Young Journalist programme. This project was made possible by the Million Hours Fund.
