Responsible smartphone use: Expert round in Lower Austria!

Responsible smartphone use: Expert round in Lower Austria!

In the country house of St. Pölten, an important round of discussion was held to use the cell phone at schools, in which Lower Austria's governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Bildungsräträtin Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister met with school principal, the "smartphone coach" Andrea Buhl-Aigner and representatives of the educational directorate. The aim is to promote responsibility with smartphones, because more and more schools face challenges such as attention deficits and learning difficulties due to excessive smartphone use. The politicians emphasized that parents and schools should not be left alone and instruments are made available to them to deal with this topic, as OTS reported.

The politicians clarify that there will be no general cell phone bans in the coming months, but rather a reasonable middle ground is being sought. To do this, one wants to provide precise rules and comprehensive information so that pupils and parents are well informed. The focus is on the "Connect with Care" initiative, which should encourage parents and students to raise awareness of mobile phone use. The directors Hemma Poledna and Sabine Puchinger make it clear that the BG Klosterneuburg has currently implemented a cell phone -free time in the morning, except in the subject of "basic digital education". This has already led to a positive change in the school atmosphere, said Poledna. In order to further promote the discussion, there will be an expert event in the House of Digitization in Tulln in December, followed by an action month in the second semester to deepen the knowledge of cell phone use in schools, as reported on OE24.