In January, the ”Digital pause” experiment at 200 secondary schools could be nationwide.
France is set to trial a ban on mobile phones in schools for students under 15, seeking to give students a ”digital pause”. If the case is successful, the ban will take effect in January.
The experiment requiring students to hand over their phones to school authorities on arrival will take over 200 secondary schools. The trial will take the ban on mobile phones further than the 2018 law that banned students from secondary and primary schools from using their phones on campus but can keep them.
The trial was announced on Tuesday, and the acting education minister, Nicole Belloubet, stated that the aim was to give a ”digital pause.” According to Belloubet, the ban will be implemented in all schools starting in January; the trial is successful.
Concerns expressed by a commission set up by the president, Emmanuel Macron, suggest that children’s overexposure to screens has a negative effect on their development and health.
A 140-page document released in March stated that there is “a very clear consensus on the direct and indirect negative effects of digital devices on sleep, on being sedentary, on a lack of physical activity and on the risk of being overweight and even obese … as well as on sight”.
It added that the excessive use of digital devices, including mobile phones, was bad for students, civilization, and society as a whole.
The report also suggested that mobile phone usage among children should be controlled in stages. For instance, no mobile phones should be used before 11, children between 11 and 13 can use devices without internet access, and those between 13 and 15 can use mobile phones with internet access but without social media.
It also recommended that children under three not be exposed to digital devices, which, according to the document, were “not necessary for the healthy development of the child.”
Servane Mouton, a neurophysiologist and neurologist, stated, “We must put the digital tool in its place. Up to at least six years old, a child has no need for a digital device to develop.” We have to teach parents how to play with their children once again.”
There has been a long debate about banning mobile phones in schools across Europe and the United States. Though there are no formal restrictions in Germany, most schools ban the use of mobile phones and digital devices in classrooms except for educational purposes. Since the beginning of this year, Dutch secondary schools have also banned the use of mobile phones, but not as a recommendation and not as a legal obligation.
Schools in other parts of the globe, like Italy and Portugal, have also banned the use of mobile phones in some schools. For instance, Italy introduced a mobile phone ban in 2007 before easing it in 2017 and reimposing it in 2022.
The British government issued guidelines for schools “banning the use of mobile phones throughout the school day.” However, individual headmasters and school leaders decided to follow the phone policy.
Some schools in Spain have introduced mobile schools and digital device bans; however, there is no nationwide ban. Schools in Portugal are experimenting with a compromise by introducing mobile phone days at school each month.
