England’s trendiest school Eton bans smartphones but provides tablets

Eton College (Source: Kazimierz Mendlik, Wiki Commons)
Eton College, which has produced some of Britain’s best-known politicians, wants to ensure that future UK technology leaders will not be able to own iPhones. During the 14 years that the UK Conservative Party was in power, it had such a firm grip on technology it demanded Apple to add security features they already had. Boris Johnston, when he was prime minister, claimed that no other country had been able to get Apple and Google’s app COVID to work while the rest Europe continued with their successful apps. Johnson, along with 19 other former UK Prime Ministers, was educated at Eton. It is a boarding-school for boys only, aged 13 and older. The cost per term is around $21,330, or $63,990 a year. While it may dent the entitlement of an Eton graduate, their families will be able to save some money. CBS News reports that first-year students are no longer permitted to own iPhones. They are not allowed to have any smartphones. These kids don’t know what they want, and are used to buying the most expensive phone. Now, it doesn’t really matter because, when they arrive at Eton School, the SIM cards from their iPhones will be switched to Nokia phones that the school provides. UK iPhones are not yet using eSIMs like US iPhones. “Eton regularly reviews our mobile phones and devices policy to balance both the benefits and challenges technology brings to schools,” said a spokesperson. “[Pupils] receive a ‘brick phone’ for use outside of school hours, as well as an iPad issued by the school to support academic study.” This policy is as British and posh as Eton, the stereotypical image for posh England. It says that you can’t get an iPhone but we will give you an iPad. Eton may be hoping its students are technophobic, but based on their past records, they could simply be hoping for a lockdown. Boris Johnson famously said to an inquiry that he could not hand over important messages because he had forgotten his phone’s password.