Students in some 200 schools across France will be required to surrender their mobile phones at the school gates each morning of the coming academic year as the government trials a new initiative to limit reliance on smartphones and impose “digital breaks” on pupils.  

The advent of smartphones has made staying in touch a lot easier, but it has also brought a certain disconnect that the government in France is looking to address—especially among its youth population. 

Building on an initiative introduced in 2018, nearly 200 French secondary schools across the country will be participating in a new scheme this coming academic year that will prohibit pupils under the age of 15 from taking their phones into class with them. 

Unlike the previous law, which allowed students to keep their phones with them but prohibited their use during school hours, this trial scheme requires students to give up their phones upon arrival at school each morning. 

The goal here is to create an imposed “digital break” on students, as well as to tackle worries about the now well-documented negative effects of too much screen time on children. Sleep disruption, reduced physical activity and increased obesity top the list, with other concerns such as depression, poor socialisation abilities and decreased cognitive and memory skills also cited by researchers. 

“The experiment with this digital break will begin in the 2024 school year in nearly 200 secondary schools, and the generalisation of this digital break should be able to take place from January 2025,” says Nicole Belloubet, France’s Minister of National Education. 

The decision to step up the rules on phones in schools comes on the heels of an expert report submitted to the government back in April. Belloubet, though firm on the topic, concedes that using digital technology in schools in general is fine, it is simply the added screen time outside classes that has become problematic. 

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France releases guide for parents after report highlights the dangers of excessive screen use

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