“Cell phone away, and the break is buzzing again,” was the headline de Volkskrant cheering on Tuesday. Naturally, I cheered with all my heart: finally there is “less bullying (via social media), more playing and reading” in our schools.
This has emerged from a survey conducted by that newspaper in which 228 secondary schools participated. No fewer than 84 percent of schools are adopting the government directive (urgent advice, not yet a legal ban) to no longer allow mobile phones, tablets and smart watches in the classrooms. Since then, the students have been chatting with each other more, playing games together or reading a book, “sometimes to the surprise of teachers.” Now another newspaper, I immediately thought, but that is mainly out of ugly self-interest.
Almost half of the schools go further than government advice: they not only ban mobile phones from the classroom, but also from the breaks. Students should put them in a safe or leave them at home. In the new school year, mobile phones will also disappear from primary education.
Vibrant schools, soon more literate students who no longer have a mobile phone on their lap, but Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer or Tommy Wieringa – what more could we want? A good question, if I say so myself. I have some idea. Why would we limit ourselves to education with such a cell phone ban? There are many complaints about a lack of social cohesion in modern society, people avoid each other. They often pretend not to see the other person and hide behind their cell phone. In the past, you would sometimes have a spontaneous conversation on the train or in the doctor’s waiting room, but nowadays everyone immediately looks down at their cell phone upon arrival with the implicit message: sorry, I am not available. (Many general practitioners have abolished their walk-in consultation hours.)
A terrible shame, because what could beat such a useful conversation in which you could exchange all kinds of medical facts about difficult eczemas and irritable rectums?
I admit that in the past you could behave antisocially by hiding behind a newspaper or book, but that cannot be compared to the obsessive mobile phone mania that has taken over public life. Traffic users are no longer allowed to use their mobile phones – many still do, especially when I want to cross the road – but how often are you hindered on the sidewalk by someone who, while calling, tries to move right through you, or obstructs the passage by standing frozen because his conversation has apparently taken a surprising turn?
Yes, our public life would benefit significantly from a total cell phone ban. You can read a book on the train again and there is safety on the street again. And will we then immediately ban mobile phones in the cinema so that we can enjoy the film undisturbed again? Don’t be alarmed, this is just the beginning! Is the chattering in those mobile phones also allowed to come out of offices and living rooms? We’ll just take another old-fashioned Bakelite telephone on a wire that can only be operated somewhere in an unheated hallway.
Cell phones gone – and the world is buzzing again.