Here is the Android alternative to not banning smartphones at school

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Should we ban smartphones in schools?? Today, the subject is controversial. Indeed, mobile phones can be a distraction for students at school. But the good news is that next year, Google will offer an alternative to this ban, on Android, which could allow parents to stay in touch with their children, while eliminating potential sources of distraction. This solution simply consists of offering parents a feature that will allow them to block their children's smartphones during school hours.

Google has been offering a parental control system on its Android operating system for years. This system allows, for example, to control the apps used by children, or the time spent in front of the screen. And in a blog post, Google announced that over the next year, it will offer the “School time” feature on Android smartphones, tablets, and Galaxy Watch smartwatches. This feature is already present on the Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch, which was designed specifically for children.

Restricted features during classes

During school hours, parents will be able to program their children's Android smartphones so that the device uses a home screen with limited functionality. This way, the child will not be completely disconnected, but only deprived of sources of distraction during class. On the parental control app, parents will be able to set schedules, and indicate which applications are allowed during class. It will even be possible to limit communications to a list of contacts.

“Parents think deeply about how their kids should use technology, including how to strike the right balance between online and offline time. Every family has different needs and perspectives on this topic, which is why we’ve focused on developing tools to help each family set their own ground rules,” Google said in its announcement. In its announcement, Google also said it will launch a feature that will allow kids to link their YouTube accounts with their parents. This will allow monitoring of children's activity on the online video platform.