With cell phone use by students in schools under the spotlight, the wearing of smart watches is another distraction to consider, according to some parents, teachers and principals.
Earlier this week, the Government said it's unlikely cell phones will be given the boot from schools anytime soon after a wave of bans across schools in Australia.
New South Wales is the latest Australian state to bring in strict rules, meaning students will no longer be allowed their phones in the classroom or the playground.
Come October, all public schools in the state will become mobile-free.
Technology has two sides in the classroom
Principal of Elim Christian College in Auckland, Murray Burton, says while the school supports the use of technology, it has taken a "hard line" against mobile phones and smart watches – mainly at the high school level because they are so distracting in the classroom.
He says banning phones and smartwatches is a severe move.
"Digital technology itself is really important and we always need to be looking positively as to how we can shape what we do as guardians.
"Banned is a really polarising word but we actively encourage students not to bring them to school and devices are removed if they are being used constantly, because they can be misused.
"The issue with phones too, is that students sit around at lunchtime and use social media and things can get out of hand very quickly. It's best to direct them into activities involved in the school.
"We have a huge screen addiction issue right throughout the world and it's changing the way we think and changing levels of concentration, so we just have to be smart and we have to be healthy about what we do," Burton says.
Does he believe smart watches are necessary at school?
"In plain and simple language, no. However, think about it in terms of a busy city like Auckland, arrangements for pick-ups, travel, traffic across the city – they can be very practical too in terms of arrangements with parents.
"But they have a high distraction level," he says.
"Let's just focus on the laptops and the iPads at this stage. It's a work in progress and we would be very open to what our community is saying."
READ MORE: Christchurch school sees classroom culture shift overnight after new rule bans phones
Principal of Owairoa School in East Auckland, Alan McIntyre, told 1News smart watches are becoming a distraction in class.
"Over the past several months we have noticed an increasing number of personal devices that students are bringing to school, particularly cell phones and smart watches.
"We are however, finding that with smart watches, this is quite different. They are easy to use throughout the day, which can cause some issues at times."
McIntyre says the school's policy is for mobile phones to be handed in to the office at the start of the day and collected at the end of the day, and for smart watches to be switched to flight mode during the school day.
He says while mobile phones might be necessary to communicate with parents and caregivers after school, smart watches are in a different league.
He wants parents and caregivers to monitor kids' use of smart watches.
"We have seen that smart watches can cause distraction from learning, using them to play games, send messages. Notifications and pings from watches can also cause distraction. Whilst we can monitor what students are doing on school devices at all times, we cannot do this on smart watches."
McIntyre says smart watches have been used a number of times to contact parents, and vice versa, during school hours.
"This can be difficult if a situation has happened or a child has become upset and teachers are not aware of this. This can also cause anxiety for parents if they are not on site at school and cannot directly help with the situation."
Onehunga Primary School Principal, Viki Holley, told 1News their school rule is that students must switch their smart phones to flight mode for the day.
"To date, we have not had any big issues with this. Where there has been a need we talk to whānau about this procedure, we share it via our newsletter from time to time as a reminder.
"Like any procedure, we regularly review it to ensure it is still working for our staff, ākonga and whānau. If there is a need we would revise this procedure to keep everyone safe."
Education Minister encourages schools, parents to monitor the issue
Education Minister Jan Tinetti says if parents find their kids are being distracted by their smart watch then they should not wear it to school.
"It's definitely a concern if parents are raising it and it's something that needs to be taken into consideration for those schools," she told 1News.
"Schools can make those decisions on their own. There will be schools that won't find them quite as distracting as others and I would not like to make a policy decision without going through the whole ramifications of what that meant for every school.
"But if there are parents and schools where they are finding that a distraction, I would really encourage them to act on that and come up with their policy around managing that."
In NSW, the new cell phone rule affects over 400 schools, with an estimated 320,000 students to be caught up in the ban.
They're already banned in primary schools, and now high schools will follow suit.
Brought in by the new State Premier, Chris Minns, the rules aim to curb distractions for students and improve learning outcomes.
"We get to learn more about other people around our community and us and not just on our phones the whole time," he said.
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