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Education

Finland Restricts Use of Mobile Phones During School Day (theguardian.com) 46

Posted by msmash from the drawing-boundaries dept.
Finland has passed legislation to restrict the use of phones and other mobile devices during the school day amid fears over their impact on student wellbeing and learning. From a report: Under the changes, which were approved by the Finnish parliament on Tuesday and will come into effect on 1 August, mobile devices will be heavily restricted during lesson times. Pupils will be allowed to use them only with the teacher's permission for healthcare or learning purposes.

Finland is the latest European country to impose legal restrictions on the use of phones and other mobile devices in schools amid growing evidence of their impact on children and young people, including attention and self-esteem. Earlier this year, Denmark said it would ban mobile phones from all schools. The chair of the country's wellbeing commission, Rasmus Meyer, told the Guardian the measure was necessary to stop schools from being "colonised by digital platforms" and urged the rest of Europe to follow suit.

Finland Restricts Use of Mobile Phones During School Day More | Reply

Finland Restricts Use of Mobile Phones During School Day

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  • Good (Score:2, Insightful)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 )

    Little shits need to learn something instead of watching stupid videos about stupid shit.

    • Why do people have kids in a society where creating the tech that kkills them is so handsomely rewarded by society?

  • Did the same in Ontario (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Wednesday April 30, 2025 @12:58PM (#65342557) Homepage
    We did the same in Ontario, Canada starting this last school year. Teachers and students that I know report that enforcement depends entirely on the teacher. If the teacher is strict about it ("phone stays in your bag, or if I see it then it goes in the box at the side of the room until the end of the class") then it seems to work well. However, a lot of teachers don't enforce it, and those students are still being distracted by their phones during class. When the law was put into effect, the law also specified that if a student was sent to the office for violating the rule, then the school would have to punish them, so that teachers can't claim that the school administration won't back them up. But alas, many teachers still won't enforce it. All our teachers are unionized, so they have a lot of "not my job" attitude when it comes to following policies like this.

    • In my child's class (Grade 12) the good students catch hell for using their phone as a calculator (HiPER Calc Pro is worth the small fee) but the bimbos just text their friends all class long.

      "But it says right here on this piece of paper!!!"

      Rules are only useful if they are used in synergy with wisdom.

      Fortunately compulsory socialized schooling is over in six weeks and then there will be more time for learning.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by evanh ( 627108 )

      Maybe a topic to raised at PTA meetings then. If the parents are on board then the principal will make it a vocal policy.

      • Re:Did the same in Ontario (Score:4, Informative)

        by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Wednesday April 30, 2025 @01:30PM (#65342639) Homepage
        A vocal group of parents are the ones that insist their kid needs access to their cell phone at all hours of the day. School administrators are afraid of them.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by evanh ( 627108 )

          Then you probably shouldn't be complaining about the teachers then. They aren't the law.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dbialac ( 320955 )
          They don't need to reach their kids via a cell phone. If it's important, they can call the school and the school staff can relay the message. If you're not comfortable having staff relay such a trivial message, it's inappropriate to be contacting them during school hours. It's called helicopter parenting. Any change of plans, etc. can be found out by your child at the end of the school day after class has been dismissed when they turn their phone back on. Want to know how they did on their test? They can te

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by RobinH ( 124750 )
            You're preaching to the choir. But the fact is that those parents exist, and they're loud, and they drive school administration to do dumb stuff.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by dbialac ( 320955 )
              Yep. Competent parents need to show up at school board meetings and parent-teacher conferences. The latter is likely to happen. The former needs to.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by PPH ( 736903 )

          A vocal group of parents are the ones that insist their kid needs access to their cell phone at all hours of the day.

          Flip phones exempt from the ban. Now let's see who screams.
          I've observed that its the kids. Who absolutely have to have social media and games in their pocket (and it had better not create green text messages). And then they scream, "B..b..but my mom says!"
          I'll bet that mom will secretly appreciate the school providing an excuse to buy a $50 phone instead of spending a grand.

    • Re:Did the same in Ontario (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Wednesday April 30, 2025 @01:17PM (#65342603)

      Same as any other challenge in teaching, if the rules and lessons don't at least partly follow the kids in their home life it can be difficult for teachers to be the only enforcement mechanism in the classroom and teenagers and pre-teens can be frustrating little shits. This probably will work well in Finland as they have a strong culture of education, teaching is a respected and valued profession there.

      If it's me I would have them locker the phones when they enter and they can access them at end of school day, of course at least in the US a lot of parents would flip shit about not being able to reach their kid during school hours, despite the fact that has only been a thing for like 15-ish years, most of us here grew up in a time where if you parent had to reach you they need to call the office and you gotta walk down there to answer.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by znrt ( 2424692 )

        the real problem with this is lacking education, enforcement shouldn't really be that relevant, but example and comprehension. alas teachers aren't there to educate, but to teach, because that is what they are asked and schools are designed to do (*1). they can ofc contribute to education but for that they have to be educated themselves, and anyway placing the burden solely on them is just deflecting the problem and yet another a recipe for failure, whatever law any parliament regurgitates.

        meaning kids sho

        • alas teachers aren't there to educate, but to teach

          I think they have to do both since nobody has to take a qualification test to be a parent so there is zero guarantee a parent can educate their kids. They can impart wisdom, yes some education but not all parents know what or how to educate but thats what teacher are there for, they are professionals.

          Just like most people will take their car to a mechanic because well, they dont know as much, they dont have the education themselves on how to educate a child, a teacher is a professional at what they do much

    • All our teachers are unionized, so they have a lot of "not my job" attitude when it comes to following policies like this

      Never miss a chance to attack the teacher's union?

      Classroom engagement is a shared responsibility, between the student, the parent, the other students, the teacher, and the school. I guarantee the union has never told teachers to let students be distracted and disruptive during class.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      And people wonder why parents are upset with teacher unions. They'd do a lot for themselves if they'd start taking reasonable discipline measures. There's a lot you can do to punish a child without resorting to violence. In this case, I'd have the Principle take away the phone of the teacher during school hours as well if he or she didn't discipline the child.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rujiel ( 1632063 )
        How blithely draconian. Also before you go tattle on another teacher not properly policing students (!!) for their own phone use, you could first learn to spell the word "principal".

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dbialac ( 320955 )

          Oh no! I've misspellet ein vert! It's the end of the verlt für mich! Sieg Heil, Schpelling Nazi! Please don't schend me to Auschwitz!

          Regardless, soft on discipline attitudes is part of the cluster our society has turned into. Teachers are their to educate and are responsible for their own actions. This means holding themselves to a high standard around their students. It also means setting appropriate boundaries for their students, and themselves, while they are in class. Actions by teachers need to ha

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Rujiel ( 1632063 )

            "Teachers are their to educate"
            Yeah okay buddy. You're in no place to be levying new rules on teachers' personal property from your office chair or whatever the fuck.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by dbialac ( 320955 )
              Sure I am. Something that too often people don't understand: I'm a voter and we live in a representative democracy. So yeah, my vote matters just as much as yours does. And anybody, even a bartender, a man who's been shot while playing baseball or giving a speech, or somebody who has had a stroke, can be voted in to become one of our representatives. For future encounters: I'm epileptic. Maybe you can lay off a bit and not try to send me to the Death Camp of Spelling and Grammar.
  • Kids will have to think for themselves and live in the here-now. How will billionaires make money during that time?!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rujiel ( 1632063 )
      How are those two sentences even related?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by znrt ( 2424692 )

        you know that if you aren't paying for a service you're not a customer but someone else's product to sell, right? lo and behold, some people get mighty rich that way.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rujiel ( 1632063 )

          The lack of ad revenue or data collection is insignificant.. and the students also weren't going to be buying random crap at school. The "stick it to the billionaires" angle here is empty. The goal is for students to read less news and be less likely form their own opinions. Take it from the head of Palantir and rabid Israel supporter Alex Karp: "We tend to think these things happening across college campuses are a sideshow. No, they are the showâ

    • Kids will have to think for themselves and live in the here-now.

      They'll have to play with their phones during the remainder of the day when they're not in school. I always thought it was rather hilarious that the school I went to had rather large drug-free and smoke-free zone signs posted, and when the bell rang at the end of the day, guess what the smokers and the stoners did the moment they stepped off school property?

      This is entirely just a feel-good measure so lawmakers can pat themselves on the back and imagine that they've solved a problem.

  • Will just find new ways to be lazy and stupid.
  • Since this may impact their bottom line.

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