Deputy Paul Montague said he was surprised by yesterday’s announcement and suspected the timing might have been driven by politics rather than evidence. He had expected the UK to wait longer to see how well the similar Australian ban was working first.
‘Some of the evidence there is that 70% of the young people who already had these social media apps are continuing to use them. I think that has to be a warning to government because you don’t want to introduce a ban that is going to be flouted.’
But Deputy Montague does agree with Home Affairs president Deputy Marc Leadbeater that something has to change.
‘You know, on a daily basis, we see how addictive these apps are. We need to move away from this because it’s having an impact on people’s lives, their ability to concentrate, to live an active life, and to engage with other people face to face.’
However, the Education president said he thinks the best answer is to change community attitudes, starting with a community-led ban on primary-age children owning smartphones. He is cynical about a government-imposed prohibition.
‘I am wary about bans, particularly bans that don’t work. If you have a list of banned social media apps, it is going to force these young people onto other apps. I mean the point of the online environment is that it is almost infinite.’
Deputy Montague is equally cautious about any outright ban when it comes to the separate issue of whether Guernsey children should be permitted to take smartphones to school.
He said such a policy would require the imposition of things like bag searches and he thinks there is a better way to address the issue through technology.
‘We are currently looking at “blackout tech”, which Elizabeth College is using, and we are genuinely considering using it in our schools. It’s an app which is downloaded onto the phone and the school can dictate when the phone “goes black”. So it could be from 8am until 4pm. You can still phone and text, and parents could still track their children if they wanted to, but you can’t use any other facility on the phone.’
But the education president was keen to dispel any idea that phone use is rife in Guernsey schools now, saying when he goes around them he hardly ever sees one.