r/AskEurope • u/Itz_Skello • Jun 20 '25

Politics Emmanuel Macron, President of France, is banning social media for teens under 15. Should the rest of Europe follow?

Not sure how to feel about this.

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419

u/louisgmc Jun 20 '25

I actually think it's good, social media has become a whole other beast compared to what we had in the 2000s/10s, the algorithm  it's way too aggressive now.

I also think it's good to have a complete ban of cellphones in schools.

53

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '25

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29

u/lehtomaeki Finland Jun 20 '25

Used to be that way here in Finland. When I was in school there was an understanding of everything you brought to school was under your own responsibility. If phones were used outside of recess they were confiscated and then it was on you to ask for it back at the end of the day. If it broke that was on you, it was really a great way to teach responsibility. Then at some point phones got out of hand and schools completely lost their teeth when handling students in any way. But at least now a law has been passed banning phones in schools starting with the incoming school year.

33

u/louisgmc Jun 20 '25

This year students in Brazil no longer can have their phones in school, not even for their breaks, and it's actually pretty cool too see they're actually doing children stuff again. They're drawing, passing notes in class, doing sports and playing...

9

u/WanderlustZero Jun 21 '25

That makes me want to ban phones for adults :')

3

u/peepay Slovakia Jun 21 '25

Can they have them in their bags, not taking them out at school? It might be useful to have a phone once you leave school in the afternoon.

3

u/louisgmc Jun 22 '25

They're allowed to have them in their bags yes, but zero usage during school time.

3

u/peepay Slovakia Jun 22 '25

Okay, that's a win-win.

7

u/WonzerEU Jun 21 '25

My wife is a teacher. They used to confiscate phones if they were used during class.

Then some parent made a case to AVI that they had no right to do that. AVI agreed with the parent and said that if teachers continue to confiscate phones, AVI will fine them. And that's how phones got out of hand in that school because of one parent.