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Eton College Bans Smartphones, Will Give Out Nokia ‘Bricks’ Instead

The students’ new phones are only capable of handling phone calls and simple text messages.

Eton College, the all-boys alma mater of Prince William and Prince Harry, which Prince George might also be attending, has banned smartphones for students in their first two years at the school. Instead the students, typically aged 13 and 14, will be given school-issued Nokia “brick” phones, which are only capable of handling phone calls and simple text messages. Mike Grenier, Eton’s deputy head overseeing pastoral care, reportedly wrote to parents of incoming students that their child’s SIM card would be transferred to a school-issued Nokia handset that can only make calls and send texts. The campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood welcomed the developments but said: “We have to ensure it’s not only the most privileged in society who are able to effectively protect their children. The data shows that the harms caused by smartphones affects those in the lowest economic households the most. On average they spend twice as much time a day on screens, and are twice as likely to report being physically threatened online.”