At recent parent teacher night one of the teachers asked us if we had any questions. I did but it wasn’t related to the subject area, but a more general concern about mobile phone presence. You see at every school break, morning, recess and lunch the kids pull their phones out and start gaming, texting and social media-ing. When I went to school we were so desperate to run around that’s just what we did. We played handball, cricket, soccer, branding, you get the idea. Now the kids sit down at breaks and stare at their little screens. I loved the sombrero moment in the recent Aussie film ‘Paper Planes’. Couldn’t we apply this to school entry and exit? Would it work at roll call, first thing in the morning, to take away all the phones? Yes I can see it’s not totally practical. But does that mean schools have no interest or responsibility in the social development of their pupils except during class time?

The teacher I asked said it was a difficult one as these days parents expected the kids to have phones and even if they were banned in playground, it’s difficult to police. As I do a bit of casual high school teaching these days I know exactly what she meant. However at one school I teach, the use of phones is forbidden in breaks and is generally adhered to on pain of confiscation. But this school has a lot of parental support; people are paying good money to make sure their kids don’t waste time. But why should that stop the local government school from trying a bit harder to improve the school community and learning experience. School isn’t just about the classroom; it’s about the relationships and social development. None of which will happen as well as it might when they let kids sit gazing at screens in their lunch breaks.

I read a recent article in the SMH with delight about a girl’s school that had instigated a lunch break program called ‘Look up Lunchtime’ (The Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday August 9th 2015, p19). Now there are kids playing twister, skipping, and totem tennis instead of screening. They are interacting face to face. Wow, how novel! Surely every school should be interested in the health and personal development of their students. It’s not just about what happens in class. Further kids need to move…hello PDHPDPHEDPE teachers?!! Perhaps that’s a bit unfair. It should be the concern of the whole school staff and community. Surely there must be some kids willing to give this a go in your local school if someone from the staff or community gave a bit of leadership? I’m sure many parents would support it and speak well of any school that offered it.

Kid’s need space to let their brains breathe. Voids are needed to allow creativity and imagination to flow. We can all acknowledge the benefits of exercise and proper breaks have for increased study output. We need to encourage our kids to value personal, face to face relationships. That’s where life’s real action is. God made us this way, to relate, to find intimacy and support in friendships. We certainly won’t find them in keeping up appearances on Facebook. We need to encourage the development of social skills and manners. Our kids will be less stressed, less anxious if we can encourage and support our local schools in their efforts to keep breaks, screen free.

I’m Stephen Shearsby, performer of Anton’sAntics. If you’d like a screen free, wonderful learning experience for your school or church then get in touch with me to find out more about the shows.