“I think smartphones in a classroom represent an enormous level of temptation for students, but that isn’t to say that I would ban them,” said Mr Bennett. “My personal recommendation is that schools think very cautiously and carefully before allowing them. I think the default should be that they are not allowed unless teachers invite them for some specific reason.”
Children are getting access to the technology too young, he said. “People ask me, ‘When should I give my child a smartphone?’ and I say, ‘Whenever you’re comfortable with them viewing pornography’, because their curiosity will take them there.
“My personal belief is that I don’t think a child should have a smartphone until they are 16, unless it is under adult supervision.”
Phone use was a child protection issue, he said. “Most parents would supervise in some way internet access for children, and I think it would be an absurd proposition to say that schools shouldn’t do that because we are looking after their safety. I don’t want children in playgrounds swapping pornographic pictures or pictures of horrific scenes or racist websites or whatever. I want to know roughly what they are looking at, and that includes in school.”