Good morning. If your child is using their smartphone at school, they are very likely to be breaking the rules. That is the conclusion of a new report from the Children’s Commissioner, Rachel de Souza, which says that 90% of secondaries and almost 100% of primaries in England have policies in place limiting use of mobile phones in school hours, with many of them requiring children to leave their devices at home or hand them over when they arrive.
Those figures, the most robust evidence yet on how schools handle the issue, might be seen as part of a broader pattern: where once there was little but resignation to the ubiquity of smartphones, there are growing signs of a fightback. Today’s newsletter is about the evidence of a shift in how we treat smartphones in childhood – and how it happened much more gradually than it might appear. Here are the headlines.
Five big stories
Trump tariffs | After their initial rally in response to Donald Trump’s shock retreat on tariffs, US stocks fell again on Thursday. The sell-off deepened after a White House clarification noted that total tariffs on China had been raised by 145% since Trump took office.
Women’s health | More than a quarter of women in England are living with a serious reproductive health issue, according to the largest survey of its kind, and experts say “systemic, operational, structural and cultural issues” prevent women from accessing care.
UK Politics | Nigel Farage has rebuffed a suggestion from Kemi Badenoch that Conservative and Reform UK councillors could form coalitions in town halls after the local elections. The Reform leader said his party had “no intention” of forming coalitions with the Tories at any level after 1 May.
US news | A helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York on Thursday, killing all six people onboard, including the pilot and a family of Spanish tourists with three children. The sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside down into the Hudson River.
Peerages | Michael Gove is among those to be awarded a peerage in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list. The veteran Conservative politician and editor of the Spectator, who retired as an MP at the last election, is understood to be on the list due to be published as soon as Friday.
In depth: A dramatic shift that has been years in the making
Not very long ago, the idea of parting children and younger teenagers from their smartphones would have seemed improbable. Parents have worried for years that the little black boxes in their kids’ hands are intensifying the existing pressures of adolescence, damaging attention spans, and exposing them to content meant for adults – but the general reaction used to be a helpless shrug.
The research is mixed, with some experts viewing smartphones as a serious problem, and others saying that there is not enough evidence to support a ban. But whatever your view, the issue stands as a classic collective action problem: parents might prefer to get rid of the smartphone, or place strict limits on its use, but worry that enforcing that kind of rule if others don’t will mean their child is left out (and might therefore break it anyway). And so nothing changes.
Until … it does. You can see it happening everywhere: the massive attention for Netflix’s miniseries Adolescence, the grassroots group Smartphone Free Childhood getting 124,000 parents of children in 13,000 schools to sign a pact to delay access until the end of year 9 (13-14 years old), polls showing strong support for banning social media for under 15s, and the development of a more robust evidence base on the status quo, like the Children’s Commissioner’s report. And while it might seem like the shift has been sudden, the truth is that this is a potential overnight success that has been years in the making.
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What’s changed?
As smartphones have become commonplace and the amount of time that young people spend with screens has increased, so has concern among parents and kids themselves. The Children’s Commissioner’s report says that almost half of children spend more than two hours a day online, with almost a quarter spending more than four hours. More than two in five 16- and 17-year-olds think that their screentime is too high, but 50% of teenagers feel anxious when they don’t have their phones; a majority of parents now support a smartphone ban for under-16s, with 58% in favour last year.
As the report suggests, the vast majority of schools have policies in place banning phones for at least part of the school day – and that might be seen as an indication that less is changing than it necessarily appears. The last government was reluctant to make bans a statutory requirement, arguing that headteachers were best placed to decide what would work in their schools, and Labour declined to support a private member’s bill making a ban law last month, leading to the proposals being watered down.
Labour are now in a slightly complicated position: education secretary Bridget Phillipson has promised to review whether the guidance is working, but still says that no legal change is necessary. That position is supported by De Souza – who says that the most important thing is that parents get behind their school.
But there are signs that the mood is changing. The Conservatives now back a legal change, with shadow education secretary Laura Trott calling the move a “no-brainer”. Last year, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said that even guidance for headteachers was “a distraction from the many problems facing education”. But in response to the new report, he said: “My personal view is I would support a statutory ban on mobile phones in schools.”
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How has that happened?
Partly, the growing concern is a response to a growing problem: over the long term, more kids are spending longer on their phones, and so it’s natural that more parents are worried.
But it’s also true that there evidence has pointed to almost ubiquitous use of smartphones by teenagers, and a lot of younger children, for at least five years – and the evidence of harm hasn’t really shifted.
One reason that the response might have changed is a growing number of news stories that have garnered widespread attention, and given parents a sense that a shift might be possible. The campaigning of Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly took her own life in 2017 after viewing harmful content online, has been a key factor in putting pressure on successive governments; so too has the work of Esther Ghey, whose daughter Brianna was murdered.
While plenty of petitions have got signatures online before, the emergence of Smartphone Free Childhood feels like a significant development, because it has gained the critical mass to accumulate those voices in one place, with a clear agenda. The group is one answer to De Souza’s call for parental action: they are asking parents to sign up to get rid of smartphones entirely until at least age 14.
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Could this be a tipping point?
While Smartphone Free Childhood have signatories from parents in more than a third of British schools, the more important point is about securing solid majorities of support in specific places: there’s not much point in a handful of parents agreeing at your kid’s school if nobody else there is interested, after all. With that in mind, the move by headteachers of more than 30 primaries in St Albans to declare their schools smartphone-free may be a significant test case for wider adoption.
Jonathan Haidt, the author of a widely discussed recent US book calling for new restrictions, The Anxious Generation, often talks about reaching a “global tipping point”, where a shift that once looks impossible now has momentum. In December, he described 2024 as “the year the phone-based childhood began to reverse”.
Even if 58% of parents in the UK would like smartphones to be banned for their children, it is likely that a smaller proportion are heavily engaged in the subject. So how has the active minority had such an impact?
One explanation is in research published a few years ago by the social scientist Damon Centola, who found in a series of experiments that a group of about 25% are suddenly able to build consensus around their view when even slightly smaller numbers fail. “Approaching that tipping point is slow going,” Centola said in 2018. “But once you get over it, you’ll see a really large-scale impact.”
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Is there anything that might slow the momentum?
Absolutely. The biggest question over the moves towards smartphone bans, whether in schools or for children more generally, is the evidence base behind it. Jonathan Haidt’s book has been highly controversial, with other experts like Oxford academic psychologist Lucy Foulkes arguing that the link between smartphones and a reported rise in teenage mental health problems is more complicated than he suggests.
A major study from the University of Birmingham published in February found that smartphone bans on their own do little to improve academic grades or children’s wellbeing. And Sonia Livingstone, who leads the LSE’s research centre for children’s digital rights, argues that the benefits and harms of smartphones are more finely balanced than the usual terms of the debate allow.
Meanwhile, a statutory ban on phones in schools might have limited impact for the reasons that successive governments have cited: it wouldn’t make much practical difference in the many schools that already have them, and it can’t do much to make it easier for teachers to enforce.
Even so, there is little doubt that the discourse has shifted profoundly. In the past, Haidt said last year, resigned parents argued that “You can’t put toothpaste back in a tube, can you?” Today, it may be the parents themselves who are the toothpaste.
What else we’ve been reading
After Pulp (above) announced their first album in 24 years, Alexis Petridis gives the first single four stars: it is “weirdly fitting” that the band should make a comeback with “a song that appears to fret about the validity of returning at all”, he writes, but “Cocker seems emboldened at the prospect of his own second coming”. Archie
Daniel Craig as Bond, tank-like Hummers and sex, sex, sex … Sasha Mistlin takes a look back at 00s adverts, “the last moment before the decline of print media transformed the industry for ever.” Alex Needham, acting head of newsletters
When Peter Herrmann was 16, his father sat him down to tell him a story. It ended with an invitation to join him as an ‘illegal’ – a deep cover Russian spy in the United States. In Shaun Walker’s astonishing long read, Peter – now Elliot – reflects on keeping his secret for a lifetime: “It’s surprisingly easy to not have to tell stories that you don’t want to tell.” Archie
Former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain gives a robust defence of parliamentary privilege, in the face of legal threats by Philip Green. If he manages to override the principle, which dates back to 1642, “that would be seismic for human rights and freedom of speech.” Alex
Why is revered folk/electro/avant garde singer Bon Iver bringing out a range of tinned salmon alongside his first album in six years? The former Taylor Swift and Charli xcx collaborator pops round to Laura Snapes’s house to explain. Alex
Sport
Football | Manchester United were denied a win in the Europa League quarter-final first leg as André Onana’s second major error gave Lyon an added-time equaliser, taking the full-time score to a 2-2 draw. In other Europa matches, Rangers stood firm for a 0-0 draw against Athletic Bilbao despite Robin Pröpper’s sending off, while Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt also drew at 1-1.
Golf | Rory McIlroy’s back nine collapse was the talk of the first round of the Masters at Augusta National, as the Northern Irishman slipped into the water on the 15th hole and fell back to level par having been four under. England’s Justin Rose shot 65 to lead at -7.
Football | Eric Cantona has accused Sir Jim Ratcliffe of trying to “destroy” Manchester United and said the minority owner rejected his offer to help rebuild the club. Cantona attacked Ratcliffe and the executive team he has put in place since his buy-in became official in February 2024, including over a plan to build a 100,000-seat stadium.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “Further market turmoil as White House says China tariffs are 145%”. The Times splashes on “US deal will not lessen 10% tariffs, Britain told”, while the FT has “Brussels open to taxing big tech if Trump talks fail, von der Leyen says”, and the Metro leads with “This memes war!”, looking at China’s online AI campaign against the US.
The Daily Mail is running with “Harry’s secret trip to Ukraine” and for the Daily Telegraph, it’s a similar “Harry’s secret visit to Ukraine”. In more royal news, the Mirror leads with “The pundit prince” on Prince William’s potential as a football commentator, and the Express has “‘Concrete’ proof Britons want a right to die choice.”
Something for the weekend
Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now
Music
Sherelle: With a Vengeance | ★★★★☆
Like turning up the radio to drown out the sound of a jackhammer, a lot of the dance music that is resonating right now is fast, loud and high-intensity. The fastest and most relentless of them all is Sherelle, the 31-year-old Londoner. She’s like the bus from Speed, always keeping above 140bpm (and generally about 160) with steely determination as she swerves between footwork, jungle and garage. This surprise-released debut album is a sophisticated production, and positively postmodern in how it unites strands across continents, history, genre and sound sources. With her socially conscious projects that spread access and opportunity, Sherelle is building the future she’d like to see. Her music is charged with the same sense of determination. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
TV
Black Mirror season seven | ★★★★☆
In this latest season of his collection of digital-age fables, Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker finally cracks and, for the first time, produces a sequel to an old episode. This year’s feature-length finale, USS Callister: Into Infinity, is a straight continuation of season four’s fan favourite. But it’s the least interesting instalment from the new batch, because it can’t replicate the thrill, the hope, of starting without knowing whether this latest adventure will be a success. The other five offerings take that risk, and almost all get their reward. Anthologies are a hard gig. But this warmer, more convincingly human Black Mirror is easier than ever to forgive. Jack Seale
Film
One to One: John and Yoko | ★★★★☆
Film-maker Kevin Macdonald has created a fever dream of pop culture: a TV-clip collage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s time in New York in the early 70s, as they led the countercultural protest. It’s a film that mixes small screen zeitgeist fragments and madeleine moments, a memory quilt of a certain time and place. In some ways, this is like David Leaf and John Scheinfeld’s The US vs John Lennon, which covers some of the same ground, but Macdonald’s film is more immersive, more dreamlike. It’s a vivid time capsule. Peter Bradshaw
Today in Focus
How phone footage exposed a massacre of Gaza paramedics
Israeli forces killed 15 Palestinian paramedics and civil defence workers in southern Gaza on 23 March. Bethan McKernan reports on the emerging evidence of what happened
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
In this exclusive extract from Frances Ryan’s brilliant new book, Who Wants Normal?, she spoke to other influential disabled women about how to live your best life. This small collection of wise words emphasises self-acceptance, resilience, and advocacy for yourself and other disabled people. Own your identity, pursue your dreams, find joy in being you and fight for inclusion are some of the key messages passed down from MPs to actors, journalists to athletes.
Marsha de Cordova, MP, says, “Follow your dreams and pursue your passions, even if you’re afraid.” But perhaps comedian Rosie Jones gives the best advice: “If you have a shot of whisky, and then you have a shot of pickle juice, it tastes exactly like a cheeseburger. Honestly, it does, try it.”
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
