Putting a smartphone in a child's hands is like giving them "a glass of wine or a cigarette," MP Jérémie Patrier-Leitus (Horizons) told Le Figaro. Along with Socialist MP Ayda Hadizadeh, he plans to introduce a bill to ban smartphones for those under 15. This would complement (and go much further than) Emmanuel Macron's demand to ban social media for those under 15.
The return of the Nokia 3310
"The smartphone is a ticking time bomb, a weapon of mass destruction for the bond between children and their parents, for attention, sleep, and self-esteem," adds Jérémie Patrier-Leitus. The bill he is putting forward with Ayda Hadizadeh also provides for the creation of a "limited service phone" label: devices labeled this way will not have internet or access to social networks. The return of good old-fashioned phones!
Aware that his initiative could be seen as a boomer whim, the MP defuses the controversy: "our goal is not to return to the Stone Age, it's to explain what these smartphones represent." At 10 years old, "there is no good use for a smartphone." So obviously, young people will certainly find a way to circumvent the ban and recover a smartphone one way or another. But it's about setting a framework.
The two MPs' text could be tabled during the National Assembly's cross-party week next December. And it would have some chance of being adopted: the debate on the protection of minors against the excesses of digital technology is in full swing. The executive is in the midst of a war against online services: porn sites must now implement age verification systems, and social networks like X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, and Bluesky are also in the authorities' sights.
Source: Le Figaro
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