The French government and mobile phone policies: Progressive or extreme?

The French government recently announced that from the start of the school year in September 2018, mobile phones will be banned completely in primary, junior, and middle schools.  

Currently, French children are not permitted to have mobile phones in class and from September they will not be allowed to have access to them during breaks, at lunch or between lessons. 

This is the second move that the French government has made against the modern culture of constant accessibility. 

In 2017, the country introduced an employment law which allowed employees “the right to disconnect” - the law allows people to justifiably ignore work-related emails outside of working hours in certain circumstances. 

With these bold steps, it is evident that the French government is taking research seriously regarding society’s constant access to mobile devices. 

The reasoning behind the ban on mobiles devices at school was described by the education minister as a matter of “Public Health”. He stated that children are no longer opting for playing at break time and rather use their free time on their mobile devices.

In the last few days, two major investors in Apple have requested that the company do research into the extensive use of their devices on child development, citing concerns about their “entrancing” qualities.

It will be interesting to see whether the European move to ban mobile devices in schools will transplant to our soil. This policy was also attempted in the USA as early as 2006, but unfortunately did not stick.   

Watch this space.

Verlie Oosthuizen

Shepstone & Wylie Social Media Law Department