Smart phones in all their present guises have been an important innovation because they can connect us with so many things that we need each day like learning, banking, news, healthcare, shopping, streaming, and seeking advice on gardening, sport, construction, etc.
However, the attraction of social media and other engaging less important attractions also have negative impact on our time management.
We all know that it is easier to waste time on our phones rather than attending to more important matters like reading a good book, going for a jog, enjoying a concert, doing homework, or simply talking with family members and friends.
Now, at last an important new discussion paper called “Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health” that has been published in Norway that sets out the results of a study on how smart phones have produced measurable negative impacts on school children.
The paper was commissioned by from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and written by Sara Abrahamsson, a PhD Research Scholar at NHH, the Norwegian School of Economics,
It comes to an uncontroversial conclusion that is clearly summarised on the first page – smart phones should be banned from schools.
Here is the summary that cannot be bettered for clarity:
“How smartphone usage affects well-being and learning among children and adolescents is a concern for schools, parents, and policymakers.
Combining detailed administrative data with survey data on middle schools’ smartphone policies, together with an event- study design, I show that banning smartphones significantly decreases the health care take-up for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls. Post-ban bullying among both genders decreases.
Additionally, girls’ GPA improves, and their likelihood of attending an academic high school track increases. These effects are larger for girls from low socio-economic backgrounds. Hence, banning smartphones from school could be a low-cost policy tool to improve student outcomes.”
The recent dramatic fall in OECD’s Pisa education results for Nordic school children is probably caused in part by excessive smart phone use during and after school.
The loss of knowledge and time wasted on these frivolous activities will plce a heavy price later on in life unless we, the adults, take corrective action now…
Furthermore, we must also consider that it is not only children who are at risk from smart phones. There are also dangers with smart phones faced by the elderly and other less well-informed folk from the increased activities of criminals who seek to trick these people to do something that causes them to be defrauded. These criminals may also trick employees to expose their companies to criminal hacking activities or blackmail.
Criminals, run-of-the-mill thugs and state-run criminal gangs from Russia, China and North Korea, are fast adapters of these new technologies. It is therefore imperative that we should ensure that exposure to these sophisticated actors are minimised even if it involves removing or limiting access to phones connected to company networks.
Cyber security threats evolve so fast that even well organised companies with strong cyber security policies and practices are suddenly discovering new weaknesses in their armour. Firewalls and other cyber security hardware and software need to be updated on a daily basis. However, it only takes one weak link of a part-time worker to give these criminals access to the whole system.
State-run criminal hackers mentioned above are a major security threat to our basic infrastructure like electricity, water supplies and GPS systems, which when compromised making travel by air, road and sea more risky. Protecting critical infrastructure requires massive investment and an ongoing basis.
It is not only criminals who are misusing smart phones. Your correspondent has noted that many consumer companies, banks, and telephone operators are charging excessive connection costs for each minute when making directory enquiries or when calling a help line. Monthly smart phone charges may exceed €500 for pensioners who cannot access the internet, and who may honestly believe that such calls are free like most smart phone calls.
Photo: Sage Ross – Own work
