Australian and Boost Mobile boss Peter Adderton who is highly respected in global telecommunications circles, is causing a stir in the USA with a call on carriers to support a ban on mobile phones (Cell phones) being used in schools, he has also had a go at carriers claiming they are “enablers” of questionable social media activities.
His call to ban mobile phones in US schools appears to be a follow on from NSW Premier Chris Minns move in April 2023, after he announced that the NSW Government would ban mobile phones in all public high schools during school hours, his call appears to have got the backing of several States and Federal Government politicians in the USA.
Now Adderton, wants carriers around the world to take the lead in supporting a ban on mobiles in schools.
He claims that every phone carrier has an “ethical and moral responsibility” to support a ban but has refused to do because “it would hurt their business.”
“There’s a reason carriers stay silent – it’s the same reason tobacco companies stay silent,” Adderton told the New York Post.
“But the physical health of smoking and seeing smoke in lungs is a better visual than anything having to do with the impact of cell phones in schools.”
In NSW the Government pointed to distractions, cyberbullying and declining mental health among young people who use phones excessively as key reasons for cutting out the use of mobile phones on school grounds.
Adderton, a father of three who has a home in Mosman and in California, said he was moved to become the first major telecom CEO to call for action in the US after seeing the positive effect the restrictions had when Australian Governments such as NSW implemented a ban over the past few years.
“I’m a parent first and a CEO second and I see the impact this is having, and I can’t see why anyone would have an issue calling for a federal ban on schools,” he said.
Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg, who led an independent review of mobile phones bans at schools, found that the Aussie prohibition resulted in “improved academic outcomes, reduced distractions and promoted a lot of social interaction, particularly in recess and lunchtime, which wasn’t happening beforehand.” 
Australian school principal, Mark Sneddon, said, “The lesson-by-lesson battle with phones in class is gone, so we’re getting five, 10, maybe 15 minutes of teaching and learning time back.”
The move to ban mobile phones in schools has not gone down well with the likes of Google, Facebook and Instagram who are seen as losing a key audience during the day.
Last week, Facebook and Instagram were accused of promoting minors’ profiles to child predators and inundating underage users with sexually explicit content, according to a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico attorney general.
While banning phones in schools won’t eliminate access to problematic social media it would diminish the amount of time children spend on these platforms, Adderton insisted.
He also noted that it’s not just social media companies who bear some culpability for the dangers posed by these platforms but also the telecom carriers who he sees as “enablers.”
“Everyone is hammering the social media giants but the very people who connect you to those platforms have a moral responsibility to society, too,” he said, adding, “93% of people now access the internet through a mobile device… if you lose connectivity you can’t access any of this.”
Last month, US Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a bill in the US Federal Parliament to study the effects of cell phone usage in schools — a move some are hopeful could pave the way for a fully-fledged federal ban.
“Widespread use of cell phones in schools are at best a distraction for young Americans; at worst, they expose schoolchildren to content that is harmful and addictive. Our legislation will make schools remain centres of learning,” Cotton said in a statement.
The politicians are unlikely to get much blowback since the demographic these effects — school-aged children – aren’t of voting age.
One US politician said, “You have kids literally filming teachers when they’re reprimanding students and putting it on TikTok,”.
“Teachers who are tired of getting harassed by students and their union are probably on board.”
Others note that cell phone accessibility for students is vital, especially in the event of an active shooter in a school.
“Given our inability to secure our schools, how would that be good for safety and who will explain that to a victim’s parents?” said Walt Piecy, a partner and TMT analyst at LightShed Partners.
Piecy, along with other analysts, also dismissed Adderton’s assertion that carriers don’t want a ban because it would impact their bottom lines.
