There have been calls in Switzerland for a blanket ban on smartphones at school. Others want clearer rules. At the same time there is the question of whether children should be banned from using social media altogether.
Smartphones were never designed with children in mind – but they have reshaped childhood almost overnight. This is the view of Smartphone Free Childhood, an international grassroots movement of parents committed to delaying children’s access to smartphones for as long as possible. Smartphone Free Childhood believes that children are being pulled into a digital world designed to keep them hooked. Various studies have outlined the huge impact they have on children’s development, mental health and relationships. In particular, US academics Jonathan Haidt and Jean Marie Twenge have presented evidence that there has been a surge in teenage depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts since the adoption of smartphones, and that smartphones have severely undermined children’s ability to concentrate and learn.
Various countries have responded by banning the use of smartphones at school. Italy and France did so a while back, while the Netherlands followed suit at the beginning of 2024. Denmark is Europe’s most digitally advanced country, where schools provide pupils with access to computer tablets from an early age. But it, too, moved to ban mobile phones in all schools (up to age 16/17) in autumn 2025. In these and other cases, the argument put forward for banning mobiles is that, while school-provided computers and tablets can and should offer engaging access to learning content, privately owned smartphones prevent children from concentrating and are detrimental to the classroom (and playground) dynamic.
Educational jurisdiction in Switzerland is a matter for the cantons, not the federal government. Hence, the approach to smartphones in the classroom varies from canton to canton. Nevertheless, there is a general trend towards banning devices at school. Vaud and Ticino have already had bans in place for quite some time, while the classrooms of Nidwalden, Valais, Aargau and Neuchâtel have been smartphone-free since the beginning of this school year. There are similar moves afoot in Zug and Thurgau. Other cantons have rejected a ban, albeit noting in some cases that responsibility lies with individual municipalities. Without explicitly banning smartphones, many schools apply their own rules – such as requiring children to hand in their phones for safe storage at the start of the day, where the devices then remain until home time. Voices across the political spectrum have called for smartphone bans. And a clear majority of the Swiss population agrees. According to a study by the Swiss-based Sotomo research institute, 80 percent of people in Switzerland want children to be barred from using their phones at school.
Although Switzerland is still a long way from implementing a national ban, the Federal Council has been forced to address the matter after the federal parliament approved two almost identical upper-house motions from the Green Party. The government must now produce a report outlining its position and setting out how the state can protect children and teenagers from excessive and damaging consumption of social media. The parliamentary motions in question applied arguments based on the studies mentioned above.
Smartphones are a distraction in the classroom but also an important part of children’s everyday lives, containing essential things like bus tickets.
But what do Switzerland’s teachers, school heads and youth experts think of banning phones at school? In short, not a lot. In 2024, the umbrella organisation of teachers in Switzerland, the LCH, noted that the aforementioned studies had shown quite a mixed picture. The success of smartphone bans in schools is heavily dependent on how well such bans are implemented and communicated, it says, adding that careful consideration needs to go into balancing the need to curtail smartphone exposure with promoting smart use of phones and other digital devices. Smartphones can be a source of distraction. They can also lead to addiction, cyberbullying and other risks. But they do offer an important medium for learning, the LCH argues. Banning them outright would be counterproductive, in its view.
Pro Juventute, the Swiss foundation promoting child and youth welfare, also prefers a more reasoned approach that allows schools to retain the prerogative. But above all, it wants young people to be consulted. If they are excluded from the decision-making process, schoolchildren will more than likely try to circumvent any bans, it points out. “Schoolchildren will take a second device into school with them or use their phones secretly.” The needs of children and teenagers also have to be taken seriously, says Pro Juventute. Many of them use their phone on the way to school or before and after classes, because they need it to access their bus ticket or communicate with their parents for example. Pro Juventute believes that a blanket ban on smartphones is ill-advised and would make young people’s everyday lives more difficult. Schoolchildren should instead be equipped with the digital skills and literacy that they need to keep them safe online, it states.
The association of school principals in German-speaking Switzerland shares this view. However, its chair Thomas Minder also wants politicians to do their bit. Minors should be banned from using social media in the same way that they are barred from voting and managing their own financial affairs until they reach the age of 18, he told Tamedia in a recent interview, saying that he struggled to understand why young people should be allowed on apps that were as addictive as cigarettes and alcohol. No more Instagram and TikTok? In December 2025, Australia became the first country in the world to enact a social media ban for children under the age of 16. Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, must now take steps to deactivate accounts used by under-16s. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also supports a social media age limit, and several EU states are currently considering whether to implement bans. This could also become an issue for Switzerland’s lawmakers, given that the initiators of both parliamentary motions in Berne not only want to know what the Federal Council thinks of banning smartphones in schools, but whether the government would also consider barring young people from social media. Fierce debate is likely to continue until any Federal Council report is forthcoming, not least because two school pupils in Australia launched a high court challenge to the under-16s social media ban shortly before the new law came into force down under.
Sotomo smartphone study (in German only)
Parental movement “Smartphone Free Childhood” (in English only)
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