Before deciding, check your school’s phone policy. Ensure your child follows the school’s rules on phones.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer though—your decision depends on your child’s maturity and your family’s approach to technology. As a rule of thumb, delaying phone use at school as long as possible is often beneficial. That said, there are valid reasons for allowing it, particularly for safety and communication.
Read on to dig into the detailed pros and cons of taking a phone to school.
Deciding whether to allow your child to take their phone to school or not can be a difficult decision. If the school simply doesn’t allow phones, that makes things a lot simpler! But many schools today have a more nuanced policy, for example, allowing phones to be brought in, but not allowing classroom usage.
Lets look at a few of the reasons why you might want to allow your child to take their phone to school, and then at a few downsides which should also be considered.
Benefits of phones at school
Most of the benefits of allowing kids to take their phone to school fall into 3 main categories:
- Safety & convenience – they will be able to contact you in the case of emergency (and vice versa). If you have location tracking set up on Kidslox, you’ll be able to see where they are too.
- Social – they will be able to participate with their peers & feel included, e.g. in social media, online games, and conversations & culture around device use.
- Digital tools – if the school allows it, your child could use their device for note taking, research, time management, as a calculator, or any other usage which the internet or their installed apps enable.
Most parents who allow school phones do so for safety and logistics, but if calling is the only need, a basic phone without internet may suffice.
Problems with phones at school
At the same time, many parents choose not to let their kids take a phone to school at all. There are a lot of good reasons for this position too.
- Distraction – Phones can disrupt learning and focus.
- Cyberbullying – Online harassment can occur unnoticed on apps like Snapchat and TikTok.
- Cheating & Dependency on Tech – Over-reliance on internet tools can hinder real learning.
- Mental Health Risks – Excessive screen use is linked to anxiety and addictive behaviors.
- Lost Experiences – Screen time can replace valuable real-world interactions.
Smartphones, and many of the apps that run on them are deliberately addictive; designed to absorb as much of your time and attention as possible. If you know your children are particularly susceptible to this, it might well be appropriate to restrict screen time at school, either using Kidslox parental controls, or by not allowing the phone to go with your child to school.
What to do next
Regardless of your choice, communicate your reasoning clearly with your child. Use Kidslox to manage access and security.
- Use the location feature to check that your child is getting to where they need to be at the time they need to be there
- Use schedules to disable distracting apps during school time
- If needed, use Kidslox “multiple child modes” function to set up a mode specifically for school use.
- Use the image scanner (in combination with the Telescope feature on Android), to help protect against online bullying.
- On iOS devices, make sure you install the advanced features to ensure that location tracking continues when the device is in Lock mode.
Balancing safety and responsibility is key. Choose the approach that best supports your child’s well-being and learning.