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Back to school… with £3.2bn worth of tech

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Child on laptop
Profile photo of George Martin George Martin Conversation Editor
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Recent research has revealed that children will return to school with £3.2bn worth of tech in their school bags. It’s an astronomical amount, but it’s the stark change in attitude towards technology that’s got me thinking.

I only left school in 2005, but (and it may sound like I’m turning into some sort of Uncle Albert figure way ahead of my time), the difference between then and now is quite something.

During the war When I was at school, the idea of bringing expensive technology in with you was something that you (and your parents for that matter) simply wouldn’t consider. This was at a time when the iPhone had yet to kick-start the smartphone culture that we know today, and a tablet was still very much something you’d only see Star Trek’s Captain Picard playing with in the realms of science fiction.

At this stage, phones were a basic communication device, offering little besides calls and texts. My own parents’ attitude at this age was that there was no need for me to have one – after all, who would I need to contact? And why would I need to do so at school? The school agreed – if you brought a phone in with you it’d be confiscated quickly, a scenario that’d also involve you ending up in detention!

Tech in school bags

Just a decade on and attitudes have shifted – technology has been embraced to such an extent that we’re now actively encouraging the carrying and use of technology among our children.

According to the uSwitch survey I referenced in my intro, British parents are on average spending £270 on gadgets for their kids’ school bags, more than twice the amount as last year.

From smartphones and iPods, to tablets and laptops, the view has been flipped on its head in just ten years.

A connected world

So what’s brought about this shift in dynamic? After all, we got by OK before, didn’t we?

Phones are now connected to the internet at speeds a dial up modem could only dream of, improving to such an extent that the distraction factor is as high as it’s ever been, which only combines to make them an even more attractive proposition for potential theft.

Despite all this, we’ve accepted them as an integral part of our lives – our children included.

There’s seemingly little resistance from schools anymore, and many parents are reluctant to send their children out into the world without any means of contacting them. That’s certainly the case for one of the mums here at Which?

‘I feel much more comfortable knowing I’ve got a means to contact my daughter when she’s out and about – especially when she’s walking home from school. She’s actually got my old iPhone, so I can even keep an eye on where she is via GPS. I wouldn’t want her to go out anywhere without a phone on her.’

The idea of me going out with something as advanced as the original iPhone when I was at school would have given my parents nightmares, but now it’s become the norm for most school children.

Have you got children or grand-children returning to school in September? Are they armed with the latest smartphones, tablets and laptops?

Comments
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Adam Gillett says:
27 August 2015

I wasn’t allowed a mobile phone at all until I was 16 – and even then I didn’t have a smartphone until about 2011. I do find it a bit disconcerting and worrisome when I see very small children whiling away hours tapping at casual plant-based games on iPads.

While the rational person in me would hesitate to call it damaging without seeing hard research, it does lack the physical experience of changing and manipulating things in the real world that building a den or playing with Lego does.

Is anyone concerned by the lack of tactility and real-world interaction that the sudden shift to devices and ubiquitous video gaming seems to encourage? I’m just not sure.

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George Martin says:
28 August 2015

I was also told 16 was the minimum age, but I remember being extremely envious of those that had one before then, even if taking it to school was a huge risk at the time.

I’ve noticed a trend lately on the train of parents standing a phone/tablet up and parking their very young child in front of it as a quick means of keeping them quiet. They stare at it, totally transfixed – 15 years later they’ll still be staring at it, but holding it themselves. I’d agree that a lack of physical experience is a concern.

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John Ward says:
28 August 2015

I can see the advantage [but not the necessity] of a child having a mobile phone with them on their way to and from school, but is providing a smart phone a good idea?

Someone I know has a daughter going up to secondary school this year and the school has suggested that all pupils are provided with a phone. The mother has given her daughter a phone with a very limited range of functions and available numbers to call. There is also a facility for the parents to check the activity of the phone; I’m not sure how that works but there is clearly a concern that children might be led into misuse of the phone or run up high bills. I’m not sure I would go that far in restricting an eleven year old – a good parental relationship and guidance should be enough to provide reassurance, but there is the factor of peer-pressure to take into account. There is no question that not only is the phone itself a status symbol but also the use made of it is a form of one-upmanship leading to a tendency to compete.

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George Martin says:
28 August 2015

That opening sentence intrigued me there on necessities. I agree that it shouldn’t be one, but it would seem that there’s a growing belief that it now is – they’re less of a luxury device and more an essential extension to a life, and that’ll only intensify among a younger generation.

Very interesting that schools are now recommending students are provided with a phone – could never have imagined that at my school a relatively short time ago.

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John Ward says:
28 August 2015

Schools used to be so careful about social demarcations. The personal phone has leapfrogged right over that.

In the first line of my second paragraph I should have said “granddaughter” instead of “daughter”. While the grandmother has been quite relaxed about the child taking a mobile phone to school [perhaps in anticipation of some nice conversations?], the mother has been reluctant and had not allowed her daughter to take a phone to her junior school. But for the high school’s suggestion she would not have provided a phone now and her daughter might have become a social outcast I suppose. A different Conversation that was up this morning had the problem of a mother struggling to cope with huge bills that had been run up by her 15 year old. This must be a growing concern as children get drawn into conversations and other activities on their phones oblivious to the costs if they overstep their data allowances.

As to the necessity of having a phone on the way to and from school it all depends on what value is put on social contact; there is no practical necessity, and indeed phones themselves increase the security risk. As technology makes our lives easier it makes them more complicated. And a doting grandma doesn’t always help.

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Mohammed says:
29 August 2015

Parents need to give these kids a life. I’m totally up for knowing where the kids are via GPS but for them to Play on their phones. Is quickly becoming a problem.

Technology has made them unnatural to outside. I’ve noticed it with my young cousins, who have over-protective parents.

When i tell my childhood stories of making dens and fixing bikes, they sit in awe.

My cousins have to tell each other what is and what isn’t acceptable behaviour in the outside world. Quite a few times, they are wrong. This shouldnt need to happen. Let the kids find something to do when You, the parent, can’t do anything with them.

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wavechange says:
29 August 2015

Hopefully smartphones and tablets will become cheap so that all kids can have them and no-one worries about theft. At one time calculators and watches were very expensive but look how that changed.

I sincerely hope that it does not become the norm for parents to track the movements of their children. That’s what we do with criminals. Maybe the kids should be tracking their parents instead. 🙂

When I was young I knew where I could find my mother – at home. Nowadays many parents are too obsessed with making money and often suffer stress from the pressures of their jobs. All that I would want to change from my childhood is that both parents should share the opportunity of looking after the kids and earning money.

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Vynor Hill says:
29 August 2015

I’m not sure that I would consider parents “obsessed” with making money. True, many are continually worried about the lack of it and the double income is now the only way to survive due to the self perpetuating spiral of double income, double house price, double mortgage. If parents had three personas house prices would increase to reflect this too. Obsessed implies seeking for its own sake rather than for necessity.