South Korea’s school smartphone ban aims to curb teen tech addiction

On a crisp morning just north of Seoul, Ryu Da-yeon hands over her smartphone to her teacher – a ritual so familiar she barely notices it. Next spring, this routine will become law as South Korea embarks on a sweeping attempt to stem the tide of digital distraction in its schools. The nationwide ban on smartphone use in primary and middle schools is aimed at addressing rising concerns over technology’s impact on young minds. The legislation was passed by the National Assembly last month with broad bipartisan support, placing South Korea among a select group of countries, including France, Finland and China, that have taken legal steps to keep classrooms phone-free. For many South Korean students, the new law formalises what has long been routine. “In elementary and middle school, we gave our phones to the teacher first thing in the morning,” said Ryu, a second-year high school student in Paju. “So I don’t see what’s different. It feels like we’ve already been doing this.” While many schools have relied on internal guidelines to limit screen time since at least 2023, the new measure standardises those rules nationwide, giving them legal force. Exceptions are permitted for emergencies or educational activities specified in the legislation. Although the law itself does not specify penalties, it grants principals and teachers the authority to confiscate or prohibit phones on school grounds. At Ryu’s academically renowned high school, the policy was already strict, with students surrendering their smartphones for the entire day. Elsewhere, enforcement varies, reflecting tensions between uniformity and flexibility. The bill’s sponsor, Cho Jung-hun of the opposition People Power Party, said he was inspired by similar bans abroad. He said there was “significant scientific and medical proof” that smartphone addiction had “extremely harmful effects on students’ brain development and emotional growth”. Recent research appears to support these claims. A government survey conducted last year found that nearly 25 per cent of South Koreans had difficulty controlling their smartphone use, even as it took a toll on their physical, emotional and social well-being. Among teenagers aged 10 to 19, the figure soared to nearly 43 per cent. Meanwhile, a major international study published in July by the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities linked extensive smartphone use in children under 13 to mental health issues ranging from low self-esteem and poor emotional regulation to suicidal thoughts. Still, many students find the allure of their smartphone screens difficult to overcome. “Once you start watching videos or scrolling, it’s really hard to stop,” Ryu said. “Even though the teachers lock up our phones, students still bring iPads and tablets to class. A lot of people just use those to play games or stream shows.” At the prestigious Gyeonggi Science High School for gifted students, Shin Jae-heon believes some restrictions are justified, even though his own school does not currently impose any limits. “In middle school, I saw students sneak in their phones just to avoid giving them up,” he recalled. “And it’s really common to see students staring at their screens even while eating.” Not everyone is convinced the law is the right solution, however. Student advocacy groups have criticised the legislation as overreach, arguing in a statement released last month that it “directly infringes upon students’ basic constitutional rights, such as freedom of communication and rights to keep privacy and seek happiness”. Kang Young-mi, director of the National Association of Parents for Cham-Education, contends that the law’s passage was rushed and did not take students’ views into account. “Schools should’ve spent plenty of time to hold debates with students to explain the rationale and justification for the basis of the law,” she said. “The most educational approach is to create rules together, but students’ voices aren’t really reflected when establishing such rules within schools.” Kang said her own daughter, a middle school student, had asked classmates about the ban but they did not express much of an opinion on the matter. “South Korean schools have a culture of blindly following what the teacher tells you to do. Schools aren’t teaching students how to resolve conflicts among themselves and, instead, try to solve everything through legal action,” Kang said. “As a result, problems with school bullying and various forms of digital violence and sexual violence are becoming more severe.” “As a result, problems with school bullying and various forms of digital violence and sexual violence are becoming more severe.” Digital dangers facing students include a surge in deepfake pornography cases, with authorities reporting last year that more than 81 per cent of those arrested for creating deepfake content were teenagers. Students had secretly photographed classmates and used the images to produce explicit videos, some of which were circulated in Telegram chat rooms with memberships exceeding 220,000, according to police. Kang further linked smartphone overuse to the relentless academic pressure South Korean students face, driven to late-night study sessions, cram schools and test-prep routines by the high-stakes Suneung university entrance exam. “One of the main reasons students overuse phones is that they barely have time to do anything else,” she said. “If they had more time outside of studying, they’d probably spend more of it interacting with friends face to face.” For Shin, who is currently preparing for the Suneung, his phone offers a rare respite. “The exam’s relative scoring system makes everyone a competitor,” he said. “I’ve seen students hide their notes and avoid others just because of the pressure.” Still, he holds out hope that schools will change, if not for his own sake, then for that of his younger siblings.

South Korea’s school smartphone ban aims to curb teen tech addiction

The nationwide ban comes after a government survey found nearly 43 per cent of teenagers have trouble controlling their phone use