RTL Today – Parliamentary debate: Luxembourg MPs largely support mobile phone bans in schools, criticise implementation

On Wednesday, mobile phone bans in schools were among the topics discussed by MPs in the Chamber of Deputies.

The debate, initiated by the Green Party (Déi Gréng), underscored a shared recognition of the need for action on mobile phone use in schools. However, the Green Party expressed dissatisfaction with the approach taken. MP Djuna Bernard criticised Minister of Education Claude Meisch for introducing the ban hastily and placing the burden on individual secondary schools to develop their own policies.

“You’ve essentially given schools until Easter to devise their own strategies,” Bernard pointed out, adding “Afterward, you’ll decide whether their solutions are adequate and adjust accordingly.” She argued that this approach risks fostering inconsistencies and even competition between schools, leaving parents and students to choose institutions based on differing mobile phone policies.

While concerns about the implementation were raised, the concept of restricting or banning phone use in schools saw broad support. MP Ricardo Marques of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) backed the measure, stating that schools should remain “sanctuaries for learning and reflection,” free from the distractions of mobile devices.

Marques, a graduate psychologist, noted that students’ attention is perturbed by smartphones that bombard them with notifications from various social networks. “TikTok gets its name from the fact that it, like time, is endlessly ticking away, allowing users to endlessly scroll through videos.” The MP pointed out that most apps and algorithms are designed to entice young people to keep clicking and scrolling. This, he warned, could lead to adolescents becoming addicted and falling behind in their studies.

For MP Fred Keup of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR), meanwhile, the issue could be resolved very quickly. Keup advocated for a complete ban of mobile phones for anyone under the age of 12. This way, he argued, the discussion about mobile phones in primary education would be superfluous. On a personal level, the MP stated that he finds it “mad” that some parents or legal guardians are sending 10- or 11-year-olds to school with mobile phones: “What’s the point of that?”

While Keup sees mobile phones as “a curse and a blessing,” MP Francine Closener of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) acknowledged that much has changed over the past two decades. She noted that distractions through the internet, smartphones, and social media have steadily increased in the past 20 years. “While we’ve partially adapted and are somewhat able to handle it, it’s terribly exhausting to always be online and available,” Closener stated.

If anything, she added, children and adolescents feel even more drained than adults, which is why they have to be taught healthy smartphone and internet usage at home and at school.

On a different note, MP Sven Clement of the Pirate Party shared that “many teachers” have told him that secondary school students have already figured out a way to circumvent mobile phone restrictions: They carry two devices–one to hand in to the teacher and one to keep in their pocket.