In South Korea, students have been officially banned from using mobile phones during school lessons
In South Korea, a law was passed that prohibits schoolchildren from using mobile phones during lessons. This is reported by the BBC.
The bill, which was supported by 115 of the 163 deputies present at the vote, was adopted on August 27. It will go into effect in March 2026, at the start of the new school year, and is the result of a bipartisan effort to combat smartphone addiction.
Legislators, teachers and parents are convinced that the constant use of smartphones negatively affects the performance of schoolchildren and takes away the time they could devote to studying. At the same time, the legislative initiative has skeptics, including students themselves, who doubt its effectiveness and ask what consequences it will lead to.
Most South Korean schools have already implemented restrictions on the use of phones. Similar steps have been taken by other countries before: in Finland and France — for elementary school students, and in Italy, the Netherlands, and China — for all schoolchildren. However, South Korea has become one of the few countries where such rules are enshrined in law.
However, addiction to phones is not only characteristic of children. According to a 2024 government study, almost 25% of the country’s 51 million people suffer from excessive addiction, with 43% of youth aged 10 to 19 years old and rising. More than a third of teenagers admit that it is difficult for them to control the time they spend watching videos on social networks. Parents believe that this distracts children from studies and other important activities.
The author of the bill, Cho Jeong-hoon, explained that he was influenced by the examples of other countries. He emphasized that there is “strong scientific and medical evidence” that smartphone addiction has “extremely harmful effects on the brain and emotional development of students”.
The law not only prohibits the use of phones in class, but also gives teachers the right to limit access to them in school in general. In addition, schools are required to teach children the proper use of smartphones. At the same time, exceptions are provided: phones are allowed to be used by students with special needs as aids, for educational purposes or in emergency situations.
Teachers’ positions on the law were divided. Only one of the two main teachers’ organizations, the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, supported the bill, saying it would create a “much better legal framework” for restricting the use of phones in classrooms. An internal survey found that about 70% of teachers faced problems due to smartphones during class, and some noted that students could not control their emotions when teachers took their phones away from them.
Another organization, the Korean Union of Teachers and Education Workers, has no official position, but expresses concern that the law could infringe on children’s right to access their devices.
