Canada

Nobody does programming on their phones

I mean my dad had me help him code a game on his commodore 64 at 5 but my internet usage in 1999 was still monitored. My dad made sure I understood the dangers and implications of interacting with people online and I knew exactly how to rebuff any kind of solicitation. I never gave names, exact locations etc, when using chats of course asl was a popular thing to ask and I never was more specific than USA. I have also lied about my sex when I'd participate in chats where I found identifying as a girl got me nehative attention. Even then, when my dad wasn't around, as he trusted us after some time... I somehow got porn pop-ups all over my screen and I have to say that I wish I hadn't seen some of the stuff on there lol! We didn't have social media in its present form but youtube became a thing while I was in college and I made the mistake of posting some videos of myself which I'm glad I removed shortly after realizing how embarrassing and cringeworthy they were. I'm just glad the posts I made on street fighter online forums and new grounds weren't on something like Facebook or tik tok... as an adult I went back and deleted these profiles and posts because I obviously was too immature to post. I can't believe what kind if drivel teenage me was spewing online and I'm glad there isn't video evidence of the idiotic things I said and believed. I personally don't care as I stopped teaching before this social media boom but if adults can be twisted and manipulated, pushed toward extremism and critical thinking goes in the backburner, I can't imagine what it does to the mind of a child. Smart phones are great tools if you can somehow limit their functions while in the classroom like some kind of school mode.

I'm all in to get programming classes where children learn to code on PCs. That's a high pass for me. But AFAIK children aren't doing programming on their phones.

In general i doubt using a phone at school is going to help them program or teach them about technology. They have plenty of time to explore phones on their own when they get home, especially now that kids don't go much outside anymore. It's not like a school ban would be cutting that away from them.