SVP seeks to ban smartphones in schools, and Zurich’s cantonal parliament backs the move

The Zurich cantonal parliament has sided with the SVP’s call to remove private smartphones and tablets from schools, despite opposition from an unusual coalition that described the proposal as paternalistic censorship.

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There, we politicians are responsible for the learning environment.

SVP parliamentary leader Tobias Weidmann said smartphones had no place in schools. Citing an American study, he linked them to depression, sleep deprivation and obesity. He said his four children still did not own smartphones and managed well without them.

Weidmann argued that children should receive a digital break at school and that politicians carried responsibility for the learning environment. Even the mere presence of a phone could seriously weaken concentration, he said. The SVP therefore sought binding cantonal rules covering private smartphones, tablets and notebooks in all Zurich public schools.

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Paternalistic.

The proposed rules would apply from kindergarten through the end of ninth grade. They would cover teaching time, breaks, the entire school grounds and day-care and supervision arrangements. Devices explicitly used for lessons would remain exempt. At present, individual schools set their own policies, while other cantons, including Aargau, Valais, Basel-Stadt and Nidwalden, have already adopted broader restrictions.

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A puritanical solution to an all-too-earthly problem.

David Garcia Nuñez of the Alternative List opposed a cantonal ban. He called the SVP position “paternalistic” and said children needed digital competence, not phone abstinence. Existing rules worked in many schools, he argued, while tech-savvy students could quickly bypass many “state censorship attempts.” He said the deeper problem lay with powerful platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, which should face stronger regulation.

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State censorship attempts.