‘They give us liberty with less anxiety’: A teenager, a

After plans to make St Albans the first smartphone-free city for children under 14, our panellists discuss potential benefits and drawbacks

I wouldn’t mind if it was only in St Albans that headteachers want to create a smartphone-free city for under-14s. I can take reasonable steps not to live there. But banning phones for young people is raised all the time, and it’s the lazy way out. There are noticeable negative effects of extensive internet use: I’m 16, and in the middle of GCSEs – if I could get back all the revision time I’ve lost on TikTok, believe me, I would.