Starting September 2024, a college in Lot-et-Garonne will ban smartphones, allowing students to leave devices at home or deposit them at school. This follows a national rule from 2018. In the UK, schools like The Stanway School have conducted smartphone detoxes, showing significant reductions in anxiety. Other institutions have enforced smartphone bans, noting improvements in student behavior. Parents in Hitchin are also advocating against smartphones for younger students, with over 80,000 across England supporting this movement.
Smartphone Ban in French Schools
Starting September 2024, a college located in Lot-et-Garonne has implemented a ban on smartphones within its premises. Students have the option to either leave their phones at home or deposit them in designated white boxes at the entrance. This ban aligns with a national rule that has prohibited mobile phones in all French colleges since 2018, although enforcing this regulation has proven to be challenging.
Innovative Approaches in the UK
Some educational institutions have taken more radical measures, as observed in the United Kingdom. A noteworthy example is The Stanway School in Colchester, where students voluntarily participated in an intriguing experiment: a complete smartphone detox for 21 days, both at school and home. The outcomes of this initiative were remarkable; John Player, the principal, reported a 20% reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms among students after just three weeks.
Thirteen-year-old Scarlett was among the participants and shared her transformative experience. “Before this, I struggled with mental health issues and panic attacks. Once my phone was taken away, my symptoms gradually faded,” she reflected. Since the experiment, she has significantly altered her phone usage, reducing her social media time from six hours to three hours daily.
In a bid to address the pervasive issue of excessive screen time, The Fulham Boys School in London has enacted a total ban on smartphones. Instead, students are required to use older phone models that only support calling and texting. While opinions among students vary, teachers like James Faulconbridge have noted an “almost instant change” in student behavior. “They seem rejuvenated, more engaged, and bullying incidents have decreased, which is wonderful,” he remarked.
Initially, some parents expressed concerns about this shift. Clémence Mayans, a mother of a student, admitted, “It was tough at first; I felt anxious not knowing where he was. However, we’ve since relaxed and granted him more independence, learning to trust him.”
In Hitchin, a town in England with a population of 33,000, proactive parents like Richard Bowdler and his wife Jessica have taken matters into their own hands. A year ago, they urged fellow parents to refrain from purchasing smartphones for their children approaching college age. Richard explained the necessity of collective action: “If only one or two parents in a class choose not to provide their kids with smartphones, it creates a fear of exclusion.”
Thanks to their efforts, half of the parents in their community supported this initiative, resulting in one in two 11-year-olds being smartphone-free at school. “My best friend also doesn’t have a phone, so it’s easy for us to coordinate through our parents,” shared one student. In a broader movement, over 80,000 parents across England have committed to not giving smartphones to children under 14 years old.