Watch: We ask Birmingham should mobile phones be banned in schools? - here's what Brummies think

Plans to ban mobile phones in schools across England have been confirmed by ministers. It's a practice already widely adopted in schools already. I'm here in Birmingham to see whether people support the ban and generally get people's thoughts on smartphone use amongst youngsters.

Vicki said: “So I am actually a teacher, I'm a secondary school teacher and I think, I do think they should be banned and we were actually debating this at work today. Something that is actually a massive problem is how addicted young people are to their phones. So my year 11 for example recently did a mock exam, the question was things I can't live without. Without any exceptions every single one of my class put their phone above their family, above their pets, above their friends and it's quite horrifying, like I knew they were addicted and we've seen it as a real issue, particularly in the last few years since Covid, where the students have been much more reliant on their technology.”

Scott said: “Mobile phone usage affects everybody and we're all the same, we get hooked to those little screens and it affects every age group, I think the stereotype of a teenager glued to the phone, it's not just teenagers anymore, it's our parents, our parents are in their seventies and they are glued to their phones, it's all of us.”

Hannah added :“Of course yeah, I think that it's been a long time coming, it's been needed. Personally when I was in school growing up, it was social media was up and coming, all the new platforms were up and coming and I think it has taken a toll on not only mental health but again going back to the previous question, it does affect and influence a lot of today's day and age with everything really, everything. It's social media, rules, everything and personally myself, I completely agree that that should be banned.”