A strange ritual takes place every morning at the entrance of the Dalton High School in Alsdorf, near the western city of Aachen. The 700 students must leave their smartphones turned off in their schoolbags and are only allowed online again when school is finished for the day.
School spokesperson, 16-year-old Lena Speck, is herself a little surprised how well day one of the mobile phone ban started. She told DW: “I haven’t heard of anyone’s phone being taken off them this morning. You also realize that the students are talking with each other more. Many of us think banning smartphones isn’t all that bad after all.”
The final tally on the first day: two infringements. A 16-year-old turned on his smartphone during his German lesson. As punishment, his phone was placed in an envelope and locked in a drawer in the secretary’s office. It can only be picked up by his parents the following day. This sanction caused plenty of discussions in the school.
17-year-old Klara Ptak, also a spokesperson for the school, supports the strict approach. She told DW, “It is like driving through a red traffic light. The consequence needs to be harsh, otherwise the people will not comply. If I know that I will be without my phone for the whole afternoon and evening, I’d rather follow the rules.”
The high school in Alsdorf, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is testing the smartphone ban in a pilot program until the German school summer holidays. It covers the entire school day, including recess. The initiative is called “Smart without your phone”. Many schools in Germany are adopting similar initiatives to encourage students to pay attention to the lessons, not their devices.
A patchwork of rules across Germany
Germany’s 16 state governments, which are responsible for education policy, remain reluctant to implement consistent standards. The state of Hesse is leading the way — after the summer holidays, it wants to ban the use of private smartphones in primary schools and, with limited exceptions, in secondary schools.
Many teachers welcome schools’ efforts to ban mobile phones. Andrea Vondenhoff, who teaches Spanish and English in Alsdorf, has experienced this at her previous school, which is in another German state. She believes that Alsdorf will also quickly adapt to the smartphone ban and it will soon become the norm.
“During lessons, you notice that the younger children really are more relaxed and less distracted. Most breaches at my former school happened in the older classes. The younger ones followed the rule very well,” Vondenhoff reported. “As a teacher, the advantage is that we no longer always have to be watching to see what the students are doing with their phones under their desks.”
Training for a digital world — without private phones
It is no coincidence that of all schools, it is the Dalton Gymnasium taking this parth. The school is focused on innovative ideas. In 2013 it received a nationwide award, the German school prize, for its approach to learning, which is based on responsibility and independence.
Three years later, it was the first school in Germany to successfully implement flexible time schedules to better suit the circadian rhythm of the teenagers. Last year it won an award for its media concept.
The school is very focused on digitalization, with the students all having access to tablets. It has studios equipped with green screens for filming and audio equipment for podcasting. Some students serve as so-called tablet scouts, supporting others with their IT needs and helping solve technical problems. All of this points to why Principal Martin Wüller cannot understand the accusation that banning personal smartphones would thwart the students’ digital learning.
“It is not about demonizing or banning digitality, but rather the distraction caused by private smartphones,” he emphasized in an interview with DW. “We saw the year 5 and 6 children [11- and 12-year-olds] who were just staring at their phones and playing online games during recess. As a school community, we decided that school is also about communication with each other, for having conversations, for laughter and interaction.”
Possible side effect: less cyberbullying
Education researcher and professor at the University of Augsburg, Klaus Zierer has studied the effects of smartphone bans in schools — and provided expert advice to the state government of Hesse about its planned law.
His call is clear: Smartphones need to be taken out of schools, with a total ban at primary schools and strict rules with few exceptions in older grades.
Zierer told DW: “We can determine that in the schools where smartphone bans have been introduced and pedagogically supported, there has been an increase in social wellbeing. Smartphone bans also reduce the time available for cyberbullying, because school is often where this happens, for example taking photos in the school toilets.”
Other countries already ban phones
France and Italy have long banned smartphones in schools, with the Netherlands forbidding smart devices last year. The UK has issued non-binding guidance encouraging schools to ban phones. But in Germany, there is still resistance to the idea; not all are in favor of a nationwide smartphone ban.
It is mostly student representatives and unions who are skeptical: A ban was unrealistic and would only shift the problem to leisure time. Instead, at school, children and young people should learn how to use their smartphones responsibly.
Zierer does not accept this argument: “A 10, 11, or 12-year-old cannot use their smartphone responsibly; that is far too much to demand of them.”
A 2024 study by the US-based organization Common Sense Media showed that half of the 11–17-year-olds surveyed received 60 notifications on their devices during school hours.
According to Klaus Zierer, German studies have shown that some children 16 and older spend up to 70 hours a week online. His plea: “We must offer the students something they don’t already have in their living environments. They have enough screen time at home. Instead of this, they need more movement, more interaction, and more social experiences, to develop empathy and social skills.”
This article was originally written in German.
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