French Students Return To School Without Smartphones
French Students Banned Using Smartphones At School
As French students return to school students at French primary school and college will find that their smartphones are now totally banned. From now on phones must be left at home or turned off. For students at Lycée (15 x 18 year olds) the government is letting each establishment make their own decision.
- Bringing up children in France
- Start a new life in France with a bargain French home
- French Retirement and buying property
There has been much talk in the U.K. about the problems that smartphone usage can cause to all of us and there is now a syndrome called Nomophobia (NOMOrePHOneBIA).
A recent study in South Korea conducted on teenagers with smartphone addiction showed that their brains had higher levels of a neurotransmitter which slows down neurons resulting in reduced levels of control and attention. A further study carried out by the London School of Economics showed that once smartphones were removed from the classroom test scores improved. With growing concerns in the U.K. about addiction to smartphones and research suggesting that their obsessive use is potentially causing damage to our young people, should the UK ban?
Should The UK Implement The Same Mobile Phone Ban As France?
Freedom For French Teenagers
Whilst acknowledging that we cannot turn back time and halt progress and accepting that smartphones have changed our lives for the good in so many ways, it does seem that we need to think carefully about how to reduce the amount of time our teenagers in the U.K. spend on their phones. I am not sure that banning ever really works with the average young person. For me the best way is to find replacement activities for teenagers and young children.
It does not seem as easy in the U.K. as it seemed when I was living in France. The improved climate and rural lifestyle enjoyed by so many French families meant that life was largely lived outdoors. Most young people were far more active than those in the U.K. and families still expected their young to be out of the house all day enjoying the company of their friends and cycling, walking or swimming. With close knit rural communities parents did not have the fear that seems to have spread in Britain that there was danger around every corner. Certainly the French children I knew in Limousin and in Languedoc had freedom to have adventures. They did not need to live a second hand life on their phones. Of course, we were always happy that they had a phone on them in case of an emergency but that was all they were used for in those lovely times spent in the company of their ‘real life’ friends.
Living In Rural France
Life in rural France has a very special charm for the whole family. There is a real sense of community, neighbours become friends, the pace of life is slower. Who you are is so much more important than what you have. It is sad that many young French people, like young people the world over, are forced to leave the country for the French towns and cities. University followed by the search for work tends to mean that they move away, although the good news is that quite a few return when they decide to have families of their own. The decrease in the local rural population in France means that there are available houses for foreigners wanting to enjoy the rural French way of life. Some French property prices are greatly reduced compared to those in the U.K. and it is relatively easy to find a lovely French rural home for less than €150,000. It is little wonder that many young British families are deciding to leave the rat race behind and give themselves, as well as their children, a taste of the good life in France where modern technology does not rule.
