Banning smartphones at school: 82% of Swiss say yes

The Swiss population is 82% in favor of a ban on cell phones in schools, a poll by the Sotomo Institute noted on Sunday. More than two thirds of Swiss people also do not view the Chinese social network TikTok favorably.

This survey shows that even young people are in the majority in favor of banning phones at school, with 64% of 18-25 year olds in the “yes” camp. The approval rate increases with age.

Women (87%) are more in favor of a ban on smartphones in schools than men (78%). And support for such a measure is greater among people who have completed an apprenticeship or left school after compulsory training (86%) than among those with university education (76%).

At the political level, it is the voters of the UDC and the PS who are most strongly behind a ban, with 85% approval. Green voters follow closely with 83%, then those of the PLR ​​(81%) and the Center (80%). The Vert’liberaux show the greatest skepticism, with however 75% of PVL sympathizers speaking out in favor of a ban in schools.

Increasingly aware of the dangers

According to the study’s authors, widespread support for a ban on phones in schools can be explained by growing awareness of the risks. Particularly among young people, addiction, concentration problems and disrupted social interactions are at the forefront, they indicate.

Switzerland does not have a general ban on cell phones in schools, like France or Italy. On the other hand, smartphones are banned from school benches in most French-speaking cantons.

The president of the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Public Education (CDIP), Silvia Steiner, pleaded in September for a general ban on mobile phones in schools. Individuals have somewhat “unlearned” how to communicate with each other directly, lamented the Zurich director of education in the pages of the Tages-Anzeiger.

The Swiss hostile to TikTok

68% of respondents also voted in favor of a ban on the social network TikTok in Switzerland. To the surprise of the authors of the study, 60% of young people aged 18 to 25 want to ban the platform of the Chinese giant ByteDance even though they are its main users.

The study reveals, however, that support for such a ban declines among 46-55 year olds (59%), the age group of parents of young adults. They assess the benefits and risks of TikTok in a more nuanced way, note the authors of the study.

At the level of political parties, this time it is the supporters of the Center who show the most pronounced support, with 81% in favor of a ban on TikTok. Those of the Greens and the PS are 75% behind the measure. PLR voters are the least enthusiastic, with only 57% for a ban, behind those of the UDC (60%).

The video clip app popular with young people is particularly criticized for data protection reasons. The United States and some other Western countries accuse Chinese authorities of improperly collecting user data through ByteDance. The company and Beijing have always rejected these accusations.

The survey was carried out on behalf of the Berne House of Generations (Berner Generationenhaus) as part of the study “Generation Barometer 2024/2025”, which will be published at the beginning of 2025. Between September 18 and October 9, 2,754 people over 18 years old were interviewed in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.

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