The important thing isn't whether the child has a phone or not, but whether he/she has a circle of real friends, is engaged in social activities and manages the

The important thing isn't whether the child has a phone or not, but whether he/she has a circle of real friends, is engaged in social activities and manages their own responsibilities (school mainly). Monitoring and enabling this is what good parents do and restricting access to technology can absolutely be a useful tool to fo that. Parent's who can't/won't do this will face problems in any case, phones are just one way for children to live out their problems. But to be honest I think that schools probably should not allow phones or phone usage. Real social interaction is much too important and playing hide (the phone) and seek (the phone) with your teachers is an important life skill.