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France Bans Smartphones and Tablets in Schools. Does it Help or Hurt?

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Is France protecting students from addictive behavior or stunting their education?

French President Emmanuel Macron fulfilled a campaign promise by strengthening a 2010 law banning smartphone use during class time to a full ban of smartphones and tablets during school hours. The ban includes time between classes as well as lunch time. France will ask students between the ages of 3 and 15 years old to leave their phones and tablets at home or turn them off during school hours. Students who use their smart devices due to a disability will be allowed to continue to do so, but others may be left without their devices. In an increasingly digital world, where students use their tablets for notes, class work, and even books, is France’s ban harmful? Or, as Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer claims, will the ban help protect students from screen addiction?

Smart Devices = Smarter Kids?

Apple and other tech companies make the argument that kids benefit from smart devices. They won’t go so far as saying that kids should be texting in class, people almost universally agree this would be a bad idea. However, an iPad, Surface, MacBook, or Chromebook would make great tools for students interested in taking notes, reading, doing homework, and even learning programming. Many high schools still lack a good programming curriculum, so a tool that can help a student learn outside of the classroom is vital. I hand-wrote C++ in notebooks and went home to type it up and compile it. What I would have done to have a laptop in high school!

Surveys and studies have shown students engage more with their class work when they’re using electronic devices to learn. Access to the internet obviously provides additional sources of information for students, who may seek to learn outside of their curriculum. Also, many students today can type faster than they can write by hand, with fewer hand cramps, better legibility, and neater organization. By allowing students to work more efficiently, teachers can cover more ground.

Distracted Kids = Uneducated Kids

Credit: John Tlumacki, The Boston Globe

However, there’s a problem with electronics in class, and I once again have an anecdote about it. In college, I began taking notes on a laptop. However, I’ve always had trouble focusing solely on lectures in class. Before I had a computer, the time I spent distracted I occupied myself by drawing and doodling, writing code in my notebooks, or daydreaming. Once I started taking notes with a computer, I realized I could take far better notes than I ever did before… with more than enough time to spare for internet browsing. I’d often play the risky game of browsing funny websites while trying not to laugh in class. I even played games in my easier and more crowded classes. Despite my love for Astronomy, I’d often sit in the back playing Unreal Tournament or some game on an emulator during Astronomy 101 (it was a woefully easy and disappointing class, can you blame me?).

I’m not alone with my attention issues. Many in my generation complain about problems with focus. We’re accustomed to a world with so many distractions and information that it’s difficult not to take it all in. Humans are defined by our intelligence, our strive for new information and knowledge. Our digital world feeds into that evolutionary need in unfortunate ways: with entertainment. Flooded with the burden of too much to do, too much to learn, and too few hours to do it all, people have become too easily distracted. To write this article, I’m listening to typing sounds (I find it both motivates me to write faster and makes comfortable with focusing on only one task). Other times, I listen to Chillhop, or acoustic music. Without it, I have a hard time getting into my “zone” which can make any work difficult.

This is what France is looking to combat. Studies have shown that people who spend a significant amount of time using their electronic devices often find focusing on basic tasks difficult. This can be due to the low complexity of the tasks, but it’s also a symptom of digital addiction. If students can’t tear themselves away from their devices, they’ll have trouble learning and working later in life. While these issues may be relatively mild among my generation, the generation after mine will have grown up with mobile electronics in their everyday lives from birth, a potentially problematic situation.

Digital Storage Replacing Knowledge

Why memorize directions?

One of the best examples I have of this is directions. Whenever I’d be going on a road trip, my dad would frequently ask me how I’m getting to my destination. He’d ask if I was taking one particular highway or another, if I’d avoid traffic around a certain town or go through it at a different hour. I’d always groan and point out that my app would take me. I’m never overly concerned about getting lost. I didn’t need to know the route, or memorize the exits, because my phone would do the work for me. However, when I moved to a new area, this lead to me relying on my GPS to get around for weeks. I’d say it was to avoid traffic with an app like Waze, but the truth is, I never took the mental effort to memorize my routes, because I didn’t need to, I had my smartphone.

Studies have shown that, when you’re presented with an external form of storing memories, you’ll choose the external one, rather than memorize something yourself. It’s why, in theater, directors demand actors go “off book” early into rehearsals. Actors won’t be motivated to memorize their lines if they’re written down on a page in front of them. With the internet, that source of information is easily accessible, and, with smartphones, even easier. Knowledge sits in your pocket, so you don’t need to learn facts, you just need to remember where to find those facts, which our brain is surprisingly good at.

Why memorize the quadratic formula? It’s a Google search away!

This means we don’t recall facts in the same way our brain would typically store them in memory, through association. Instead, you make connections to how to find the information, not how to recall something. You may forget details about a history class, or the motivation of a particular character in a book. It’s possible that easily accessed information is sterilizing our learning experience, our memory itself, making our knowledge neater, but less personally impactful or memorable. It also could mean students could become less likely to remember what they learn.

Do Electronics Help or Hurt?

In short, they seem to help. However, we don’t know the long term effects on our memory or attention span from the use of these items. Also, thanks to cyber bullying, they can become a tool to distract and torment others. Clearly, students shouldn’t use electronic devices during class time. Therefore, smartphones would remain out of sight and mind in class. This was the law in France as of 2010.

The latest law may seem draconian, but enforcement is up to each individual school. Also, students can seek exemption to use digital devices such as tablets for classwork or after school activities. it might not be as easy as simply bringing a tablet to school one day and taking notes, but as this hasn’t been put into practice yet, it potentially could remain that easy.

Do we have to worry about something like this in the United States? Certainly not at the federal level. The U.S. is touchy about federal politics. It seems no one supports large federal intrusions on personal freedoms besides obvious attacks on LGBTQ people, young people, people of color, and women. Beyond intrusions on civil liberties, the United States recognizes the capitalistic benefits of allowing private businesses like Apple, Microsoft, and Google to provide technology to schools. Culturally, a full-day smartphone and tablet ban could never happen in the United States at a federal level, however, some schools districts may decide to implement such a ban. The internet isn’t going anywhere. To me, it seems like changing how we teach to ensure a more efficient education is more important than holding on to the values of the past. Knowing how to find and apply found information could be more important than memorization for future generations who will be able to access information much more easily. As information becomes more readily available, it won’t matter if you pull a fact from your head or from a website, as long as you know what to do with that information.

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