Video of Thai navy cadets smashing phones goes viral

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-34285291

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A video showing Thai navy cadets apparently forced to smash their mobile phones with a brick has gone viral.

In the clip, an officer is heard asking recruits what model their phone is before ordering them to shatter it.

The Thai navy said it had taken place in a school were mobile devices are banned, but where students obey an "honour code" requiring them to destroy their phones if they break the rule.

It has been viewed thousands of times on Youtube and other social media.

Commentators criticised the practice as wasteful, or cracked jokes about young people's reliance on mobile phone.

But the Bangkok Post went further, saying it sent a damaging message about the military.

"That a military school focusing on communications and information technology does not view mobile phones as learning tools, but obstacles that must be banned, says a lot about how much the military has to do to catch up with the world," an editorial said.

It is not clear who filmed the video, which appeared to have been made on a phone.