Will South Korea go back to banning phones in classrooms?

SEOUL: South Korea is considering banning smartphones from schools as the government debates a bill proposed by the ruling party that would ban students from using personal digital devices during lessons.

According to a Nov. 3 report from the National Assembly and Education Circle, People’s Power Party lawmaker Cho Jung-hoon introduced a bill in August to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to restrict the use of smartphones in schools by adding an article on guidelines for students’ use of cellphones .

“Students should not use smart devices on school grounds. However, it can be used with the permission of the school principal and teachers for educational purposes or to respond to emergency situations,” the article says.

The proposal comes amid growing concern about young students’ addiction to smartphones, which leads to various mental health problems, the lawmaker explained.

As games and short stimulating videos are popular among young people, smartphone addiction has increased in recent years, leading to depression and anxiety disorders.

A collaborative study by Hanyang University Hospital of about 50,000 teenagers found that those who used smartphones for more than four hours a day were more likely to develop mental health problems. Prolonged smartphone use has been linked to a number of mental and physical problems, including neuropsychiatric disorders, insomnia, blurred vision and musculoskeletal disorders.

The study also found that teens who used their smartphones for more than four hours a day had higher levels of stress, as well as higher levels of drug use and were more likely to suffer from suicidal impulses than teens who used their smartphones for less than four hours.

The latest data from the Health Insurance Review and Evaluation Service backs up that claim, with psychiatric visits for those under 18 increasing dramatically by 65 percent over the past four years. In the first half of 2024 alone, about 250,000 students visited hospitals, which is 80 percent of the total in 2023.

Thanks to research showing the apparent side effects of smart devices, the National Human Rights Commission reversed its long-standing position in October, rejecting a 2023 complaint that collecting and storing students’ cellphones during school hours was a human rights violation.

In 2014, the committee ruled that the collection of student cell phones violated students’ freedom, saying that while it recognized the negative impact of cell phones, they are not just a means of communication, but have many positive aspects that help people communicate with others.

This time, however, the human rights organization noted that the human rights violations caused by allowing the use of cell phones in classes, such as the illegal filming of lessons, outweighed the human rights violations caused by simply collecting the devices.

Violations of teachers’ rights to teach and students’ rights to learn due to conflicts and disciplinary disputes caused by the use of mobile phones have outweighed human rights safeguards regarding the authorization of mobile phone use. It was also found that students were too busy with their phones to properly interact with other students.

Following the latest decision by the National Human Rights Commission, the government is expected to speed up the process of passing the bill, as politicians and parents agree on the need to limit the use of smartphones by students.

“In recent years, social networks have negatively affected the development of intelligence, cognitive abilities and mental health of students, and students have been vulnerable to harmful and illegal content and cyber (sexual) violence,” the Ministry of Education said, adding that it fully agrees with the goal amendments to legally restrict the use of smart devices by students on the school territory.

Ahead of the nationwide introduction of digital textbooks powered by artificial intelligence in 2025, education authorities are considering restricting the use of smartphones in schools, if necessary, to address concerns about over-reliance on digital devices.

Some parents also welcomed the restrictions, saying “this is not just a rule, but a decision that will protect the lives of our children and restore ‘real’ childhoods,” in a joint statement by parents and teachers in September.

Meanwhile, smartphone bans have become a global trend, with countries such as France, the United States and the United Kingdom already implementing policies to reduce digital overdependence.

France is currently trialling a smartphone ban in some schools to create lockers to separate phones, and is considering extending it to all primary and secondary schools in 2025. In September, California passed a law restricting or banning student use of smartphones in schools, requiring schools to establish policies banning or restricting student use of smartphones in school by July 2026 and to review the policy every five years.

However, there are also concerns about limiting student use of smartphones through laws rather than school rules.

Democratic Party of Korea representative Ko Min-jung said: “I think that students are not recognized as independent subjects. They should be encouraged to create rules in the school or create a plan among themselves through student government activities.” – The Korea Herald/Asia News Network