Macron urges students to surrender phones, cites Elysee practice as example

On the first day of the school year, President Emmanuel Macron visited a secondary school in the southern town of Mende and urged pupils to give up their phones, saying the devices and social networks impede attention and learning. He highlighted that meetings at the Élysée now require attendees to place phones in a numbered storage unit, illustrating his personal adherence to the rule. Macron defended the newly enacted high-school phone ban, which builds on earlier prohibitions in primary and middle schools for children up to around 15 years old.

While some students understood the rationale, others described the measure as infantilising in a world where phones are ubiquitous. Teachers’ unions cautioned that the policy may be hard to roll out quickly, and the government’s attempt to bar social-media use for under-15s was previously invalidated by the top court, prompting plans for a new legislative draft. The president reiterated concerns that screen time fuels addiction, attention disorders, and reduced reading concentration.