Three cheers for actress Sophie Winkleman, who has revealed she pulled her two young daughters out of primary school because they were to be given iPads in the classroom from the age of six.
‘I have moved them twice now to get them out of tech-heavy schools,’ she said.
Winkleman fears the use of screens and online learning is becoming ‘normalised’ in British schools — and she’s not wrong.
Back in 2015, Ofsted was warning that iPads in the classroom were a huge distraction at nearly a third of secondary schools, yet they’ve stealthily been creeping further into our education system since then, accelerated, of course, by Covid lockdowns.
A friend of mine was obliged to buy tablets for her 11-year-old daughter’s schoolwork whether she wanted to or not.
Back in 2015, Ofsted was warning that iPads in the classroom were a huge distraction at nearly a third of secondary schools. Stock image used
One primary school recently celebrated the fact it had raised £10,000 to give every pupil their own iPad. Schools now routinely ask for homework to be done on a screen.
Of this wall-to-wall tech, Winkleman says: ‘I do not know how many more facts and statistics we need for everyone to say ‘This can’t happen any more.’ The problem is that being online in any capacity is addictive as hell.’
She speaks perfect sense. The internet is utterly, horribly addictive. Excessive screen time for children has been linked with reduced creative imagination, worse sleep and poorer ‘mental imagery skills’, otherwise known as ‘imagination’.
And yet I would be a hideous hypocrite if I did not make a confession. Unlike sensible Sophie, who only gives her daughter a tablet briefly on a Sunday, when it comes to my children’s screen time I am often to blame.
Five years ago, while pregnant with my first baby, I was full of good intentions. My daughter would never, ever be one of those kids on trains and planes clutching an iPad as though their life depended on it.
How I tutted inwardly at the parents: how weak they were, how negligent! Didn’t they know they were rotting their babies’ brains? Now with three children under five, those screen-free intentions have been smashed to smithereens. In the doctor’s waiting room: I’ll just stick Spot The Dog on for five minutes. At breakfast in a hotel: better put some cartoons on or they’ll be lobbing croissants and disturbing the other guests.
Yes, they get lots of fresh air and wholesome activities. They play in streams and get muddy like characters in an Enid Blyton novel. But if I’m honest, screen time is not an occasional treat but a daily one.
Last week I got the wake-up call that things need to change. For a few months I have been teaching my four-year-old to read the old-fashioned way, using flash cards and fridge magnets. We were flying, with various animal words under our belts.
Clare Foges (pictured) praises Sophie Winkleman’s crackdown on heavy tech for children – but says she struggles to set boundaries with her kids
Bill Gates didn’t let his children get smartphones until they were 14. Even Steve Jobs banned his children from using a tablet. Stock image used
Then I saw a TV advert for an online learning programme. It showed kids playing educational games on their tablet, whizzing through the levels until they were reading fluently, mastering algebra and speaking Mandarin (probably) by the age of seven. Seduced by this promise of easy learning, I downloaded it onto the family iPad. Big mistake. Now whenever my daughter wants to do her ‘learning’, it’s not boring old mummy she wants but the digital teacher.
So addictive is this ‘teacher’ with her candy-coloured games that last week we got the mother of all tantrums. ‘I want the iPad!’ cried my four-year-old, red-faced and roaring.
‘Give me the iPad!’ I have never witnessed someone in the throes of withdrawal, but I imagine there are similar scenes.
These screens are designed to be addictive, and in my experience they’re not brilliant teachers, either. When using flash cards I can almost see the cogs in my daughter’s brain turning. When she’s swiping her finger across some brightly-flashing game, she is in a passive state, zombified by the music and colours.
Excessive screen time for children has been linked with reduced creative imagination, worse sleep and poorer ‘mental imagery skills’, otherwise known as ‘imagination’. Stock image used
The great irony is that it’s those who have made their fortune from internet addiction who are best at protecting their children from it. Years ago, I worked with a man whose wife was a senior player in Silicon Valley. Their sons were being educated in a school where, he told me proudly, they baked bread, climbed trees and collected eggs from the school hens. The best bit? Absolutely no screens.
Such ‘draconian’ parenting is common in Silicon Valley. Bill Gates didn’t let his children get smartphones until they were 14. Even Steve Jobs banned his children from using a tablet.
This knowledge alone is enough for me to reconsider letting my daughter ‘learn’ on the iPad. Like Sophie Winkleman, I will choose my children’s schools according to how tech-heavy or light they are.
And yet… when it comes to the broader problem of children’s exposure to technology, I’m afraid I can’t share her fighting spirit. I fear it is a battle that can’t be won: the tech genie is already out of the bottle.
How to make your mum-in-law feel old
Nicola Peltz, 28, posed in a belly top and tiny shorts as she stood between her husband and mother-in-law
Nice to see peace break out between the Beckhams and their daughter-inlaw. But judging by the picture of Nicola Peltz, 28, posing in a belly top and tiny shorts next to Victoria, 48, she could do with some advice in the art of sartorial diplomacy.
If you want to get on with your mother-inlaw, it’s best not to pick an outfit that makes her feel ancient.
Junior doctors striking in pursuit of a 35 per cent pay rise say without a big pay hike, more will head overseas. Fair point: Australia’s population is surging, thanks in part to the number of British doctors and nurses heading there. Medics must be free to work wherever they like, but given it costs the UK taxpayer around £163,000 to train a doctor, shouldn’t there be some obligation to work in the UK before they head down under?
It won’t be the same without Dimbleby
David Dimbleby pictured at the 23rd National Television Awards in 2019. Clare Foges laments that he won’t be there for the coronation
Kirsty Young, Huw Edwards, Sophie Raworth: the BBC’s presenting team for the coronation is strong, but let’s face it, with Dimbleby gone it feels like we’re a man down. Any chance they could rope in another venerable David (Attenborough)?
Yes, it’s ludicrous for five police officers to raid a pub for a collection of golliwogs. But the landlords have nothing to be proud of. This isn’t a woke thing. It’s over 30 years since golliwogs were recognised for the offensive caricatures they are and banned from TV ads.
See you in the queue outside Boots!
Now the High Street chain claims to have gone one better with No7 Future Renew Damage Reversal
Remember in 2007 when Boots launched its ‘miracle’ Protect & Perfect cream, causing shoppers to camp outside stores in order to bag a bottle?
Now the High Street chain claims to have gone one better with No7 Future Renew Damage Reversal, a cream so powerful it may even help treat burns victims’ scarred skin.
My first thought: ‘Another load of marketing hype, they think we’ll fall for anything!’ My second: ‘Where’s my sleeping bag?’
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