Mobile phone waiver at school: young people discover new leisure activities!

Mobile phone waiver at school: young people discover new leisure activities!

In an innovative campaign, students of a high school in Germany spent lessons without their smartphones. On March 5, 2025, many young people decided to banish the cell phone from their everyday school life. "It can be better without a cell phone, because otherwise I am distracted too much," said Moritz Gerhold from the 3c. This event was organized by the director, Sabine Lenz-Johann, as part of an attempt to reflect on his own usage behavior. The feedback from the students shows a wide range: some use their cell phone only 20 minutes a day, while others spend up to three hours on the screen. In order to better understand the situation, the participants filled anonymous profiles about their mobile phone use, which led to an open dialogue on the topic. The results suggest that a conscious handling of smartphones is necessary and that there are alternatives, such as playing football instead of looking at the cell phone.

worrying statistics

The discussion about mobile phone bans in schools is getting louder. An alarming report by the Postbank Youth digital study finds that young people in Germany spend 36.9 hours with their smartphones every week. The equivalent of this is over five hours a day. The 237 notifications that receive half of 11 to 17 year olds daily are particularly outstanding, a quarter of whom arrive during school. These study results suggest that this intensive use could affect the learning and mental health of young people. According to a joint examination of DAK health and the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, around 24.5 percent of young people show risky use of social media services, which can lead to health problems.

More and more governments and schools are therefore considering introducing general cell phone bans. This is done not only in Germany, but also in countries such as England and the Netherlands, where similar measures are currently being taken. Scientific studies - such as those from England that documented an increase in test results after the introduction of a mobile phone ban - demonstrate the potential positive effect of such regulations, especially for less students. However, there are also critical voices that indicate the changed digital landscape in which the cell phone plays a central role. A Swedish study from 2019 was unable to prove a positive influence of a cell phone ban on the learning effect, which further fueled the discussion situation about the topic.