Parents, let's unite to ban mobile phones from Queensland schools to improve our children's learning outcomes and enhance their social skills.

An exasperated mother recently reached out to other parents with the following plea:

"My 12.5 year old son is struggling to enjoy high school. He was always happy in primary school and is very active and sporty. But he says he hates high school as lunchtimes are so boring because everyone just is on their phones all the time."

A desperate teacher also shared her frustration:

"I'm a teacher. It seems most non-teachers really can't grasp just how stressful it is in the classroom these days dealing with uber-empowered, short-attention-spanned, social-media-addicted youth."

These complaints are typical of many problems facing children in schools where mobile phones are still permitted.

It's therefore no surprise that mobile phones are now banned in every public school in every Australian state - except in Queensland.

So while students all over the country benefit from focused learning during the school day and nurturing face to face friendships, Queensland students continue to be held back.

We are a group of concerned parents appealing to the Queensland Government to level the playing field for all Australian children.

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace has stubbornly refused to introduce a school mobile ban citing the 2018 Anti Cyber-bullying Task Force (which at the time did not recommend any bans). However someone needs to alert the Minister that the chairwoman of that very taskforce, Madonna King, has now considered additional evidence and recently declared that she is now totally in favour of a ban. In fact, she has warned that it is “downright dangerous” for the Minister to continue relying on out-of-date information.

With each passing year, we learn more about the detrimental effects of 24-7 social media on our children. We are learning that tech companies deliberately design apps to addict our children. We are also learning that young people's compulsive use of social media is increasingly being linked with rising youth depression, self harm and suicide.

Leading psychologists support a ban as well, stressing that children have not yet fully developed their critical thinking skills. They agree that phones are a major distraction for students in class and can facilitate bullying and schoolyard violence.

Last year one of Australia's most respected child psychologists, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, declared that a school mobile phone ban is "more urgent than ever" and "a no-brainer from the University of the Bleeding Obvious".

Parents could not agree more.

Minister, Queensland is already late on this issue, but it's better late than never. Exceptions should of course be made for when teachers specifically require phones to be used for particular lessons, and for students who rely on them to monitor health conditions. However in all other circumstances, we want phones banned from Queensland schools NOW.