29th October, 2023

I had to submit 500 words for a peer on my Masters course to review. This is what I submitted.

Topic: Mobile phone bans in British schools

Introduction

In my dissertation, I will focus on mobile phone bans in British schools. This topic has recently attracted attention as the government published guidance in early October 2023, which stipulated that students’ use of mobile phones should be banned during the school day (Department for Education, 2023). This guidance follows many years of individual schools and academy trusts banning phones. It is set against a wider backdrop of popular psychologists decreeing smartphones as the only possible cause of an adolescent mental health crisis (Twenge, 2023). I plan to consider phone bans within the broader sociology and history of resistance to technology and understand why teachers and leaders within school communities feel that mobile phones should not be present in the classroom.

Key questions

1. What are the primary reasons behind implementing mobile phone bans in British schools?
2. How do mobile phone bans impact students' academic performance, social interactions, and well-being?
3. To what extent do mobile phone bans align with a historical pattern of resistance to technology, and what can we learn from previous examples of technology-related resistance?

Sociological theory

I am particularly drawn to critical scholarship on technology and its role in neoliberal capitalist society, for example, the works of Ivan Illich and Shoshana Zuboff, as well as sociologists of education technology like Ben Williamson and Neil Selwyn. I take an intentionalist perspective to technology, which means I believe the creation of technology involves the ‘materialisation’ of values (Nahuis & van Lente, 2008). In particular, I am interested in the values materialised through technology design in neoliberal capitalist societies and how to counter these ‘manipulative tools’ (Illich, 2021).

Research methodology

I will first of all conduct a literature review that focuses on:

1. The construction of technology in neoliberal capitalism, including the design and use of the mobile phone and its impact on individuals and society
2. The history of phone bans in schools and sociological literature that pertains to experiences and consequences of bans
3. The history and sociology of resistance to technology, including the motivations of those involved and the repercussions of their actions

My qualitative research will be focused on teachers and school leaders as they are the instigators and implementers of phone bans. I will reach teachers in British schools via my networks and social media with a survey that asks their thoughts on and experiences of implementing phone bans. Then, I will follow up with participants and interview those willing using a semi-structured interview format. This will allow me to explore in greater depth the experiences and attitudes of those involved.

References

Department for Education (2023), Mobile phone use to be banned in schools in England, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mobile-phone-use-to-be-banned-in-schools-in-england

Illich, I. (2021). Tools for Conviviality, Marion Boyars

Nahuis, R. and van Lente, H. (2008). Where Are the Politics? Perspectives on Democracy and Technology Science, Technology, & Human Values, Volume 33, Issue 5, Sep 2008, Pages 559-678 //doi.org/10.1177/01622439073067

Twenge (2023), Yes, it’s the phones (and social media), https://jeanmtwenge.substack.com/p/yes-its-the-phones-and-social-media