Debating in Hazel class

Should children have mobile phones in primary school?

The children watched Thursday's Newsround where the online safety minister, Baroness Maggie Jones, was talking about the new online safety act. We were very interested, particularly when she was discussing whether children should have phones. 

We had a super discussion, thinking about the pros and cons of this. One good reason was that when children start walking home by themselves, it is a good idea to have a phone, or for children with medical conditions. On the other hand, we talked about needing parental controls to make sure any content is safe. We finished our discussion with these points from the children:

Elsie said, “Mobile phones shouldn’t be allowed at young ages because its dangerous because there are lots of scams and hackers."

Gil said, “Cyber bullying is a serious problem, so children under 12 shouldn’t own smart phones.”

Everett told us, “Children shouldn’t be allowed social media because there could be some really inappropriate pictures, videos and adverts.”

Sam finished the discussion by raising a good point, “Using phones too much could be addictive.”