Kids Might Bring Over £3bn Tech To School Next Week

This autumn, children will return to school, bringing with them £3.2 billion worth of technology.

Let that sink in for a moment.

According to a survey by uSwitch, a price comparison site, children returning to school this autumn will bring with them £3.2 billion worth of technology. In average, a pupil will carry £270 worth of technology in his bag. Over a fifth will have more than £400 of gadgets.

The survey suggests that most pupils under the age of 16 will have at least a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop.

However, nearly a third of schools now have a total ban on gadgets and a further quarter ban them from lessons, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

Ernest Doku, a technology expert at uSwitch, said: ‘As gadgets become more integral to our daily lives, it’s not surprising that parents want their children to have the latest technology, especially if it offers their child an educational advantage.“

The survey, which was conducted online by Censuswide, questioned 1,002 parents with children aged 16-years-old and under.

The results have shown that half of parents are expecting to buy their children some new technology before the start of the new school year. They plan on spending an average of £134 per household.

Half of the parents said the gadgets would give their children an educational advantage, but 49 per cent said they feared it may damage their children’s social skills.

It is a significant change in how we perceive technology. Just ten years ago, bringing a device such as a smartphone to school was considered pointless and risky – you had no one to call and you risked ending up in detention for using it during class.