Should Smartphones Be Banned In School? [POLL]

The horror. Can you imagine having to get up early in the morning the first week of September, putting on your new back-to-school clothes and then realizing that — OMG — you can’t take your smartphone to school?

Well, next month, school students in France will be doing just that — going to their schools without their cellphones, or at the very least leaving them turned off. At the end of July, French lawmakers passed legislation that banned smartphones and tablets from being brought to school by students as old as 15, the Washington Post said.

Supporters of the new rule said it was a way to keep children from becoming addicted to the screen and to maintain order in the classroom.

Exceptions can be made for classroom use, disabled students and extra-curricular activities, Agence France-Presse said.

Ninety percent of French teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 have a smartphone.

The law was a campaign promise of French President Emmanuel Macron and was passed with support of the LREM Party and other liberal allies, the New York Post said.

There was opposition from both sides of the aisle, calling the law a gimmick.

Schools in New York set their own policies regarding the use of smartphones.

The code of conduct for Hommocks Middle School in the Mamaroneck School district explicitly prohibits cellphones, earbuds and headphones in the hallways, classrooms and lunch room during the school day.

In Poughkeepsie, the code of conduct prohibits the use cellphones or any other electronic communications device, except in the case of an emergency, from the time students arrive at school until the end of the regular school day.

Those devices must be kept out of sight and turned off by students during the day, except when used with the teacher’s prior permission.

Misuse of a cellphone will result in the device being confiscated. It will be returned — for the first offense only — at the end of the day. After subsequent offenses, they will only be returned to the student’s parent.

Fortune.com noted that banning smartphones and electronic devices in Europe is not uncommon, while the reverse seems to be happening in the U.S.

From 2009 to 2010, 90 percent of public schools imposed banning them, but that dropped to 66 percent in 2015-16.

It appeared to be the result of parents wanting to be able to talk to or text their children at all times, Fortune.com said, adding that perhaps school shootings being common was the reason.

Should schools ban smartphones from being brought into schools? Vote in our unscientific poll and give us your reason in the comments below.

Image via Shutterstock.