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Fighting the smartphone ‘invasion’: the French village that voted to ban scrolling in public
Seine-Port is introducing restrictions on phone use in streets, shops and parks – but young people say there’s little else to do Angelique Chrisafis Angelique Chrisafis in Seine-Port @achrisafis Sat 10 Feb 2024 05.00 GMT
A picture of a smartphone with a red line through it serves as a warning in the window of a hairdresser’s shop in a French village that has voted to ban people scrolling on their phones in public. “Everyone is struggling with too much screen time,” said Ludivine, a cardiology nurse, as she had her hair cut into a bob, leaving her phone out of sight in her bag. “I voted in favour, this could be a solution.”
Seine-Port, in the Seine-et-Marne area south of Paris, with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, last weekend voted yes in a referendum to restrict smartphone use in public, banning adults and children from scrolling on their devices while walking down the street, while sitting with others on a park bench, while in shops, cafes or eating in restaurants and while parents wait for their children in front of the school gates. Those who might check their phone’s map when lost are instead being encouraged to ask for directions.
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If you ban scrolling in public, only criminals will scroll in public. Remember, the only way to stop a bad guy scrolling in public is a good guy scrolling in public.
Are they also going to ban reading newspapers or books in public or are they hypocritical boomers?
"Everyone is struggling with too much screen time,” said Ludivine, a cardiology nurse, as she had her hair cut into a bob, leaving her phone out of sight in her bag. “I voted in favour, this could be a solution.”
I find it always funny, that you can read the narcissism & projection so clearly. “I have a phone addiction and I have recognised it. Now I am expecting everyone around me to restrain themself, to compensate for my lack of selfcontrol”
And it’s always ‘the children’. If you don’t want your child to have access to a screen, don’t give it one. Society isn’t responsible to manage the screen time of your toddler. You are.
She said: “Recently in a waiting room, I brought books and dolls for my daughter to play with and everyone congratulated me that she wasn’t on a screen.”
…and then everyone stood up and clapped.
A 2000 people town, current trends indicate that the place is probably devoid of young people anyway. No matter what, that policy will not make young people want to live there, what a way to kill off your own town’s already dwindling population
Boomer village
So people who use their phone to communicate like deaf, blind, and/or nonverbal people or those who don’t speak the language and use it to translate, as well as those who need it to help ease anxiety or as a barrier between themselves and an overwhelming world (in other words - disabled and other marginalised people), can go fuck themselves, can they?
Oh wait, don’t tell me, “if there arises a need an exception will be made”, which is basically saying disabled and other marginalised people can go fuck themselves, unless they are willing to be stopped, forced to disclose their personal and/or medical information to strangers and be scrutinised on the spot by people without any training with the potential of being punished if said laypeople decide that actually they don’t see good reason for the phone use…
Like, even without all of this the idea is a pathetic joke being enforced by power hungry control freaks, but the fact that they’re happy to so openly punish and exclude marginalised people (who might stay home rather than face a world where they can’t communicate, or where they might get constantly stopped and scrutinised for doing so) is just disgusting.
Fuck these people.
First off, the way this is discribed is an intrusion on a way of life/ peoples behaviour, and I personally feel it crosses a line.
banning adults and children from scrolling on their devices while walking down the street, while sitting with others on a park bench, while in shops, cafes or eating in restaurants and while parents wait for their children in front of the school gates. Those who might check their phone’s map when lost are instead being encouraged to ask for directions.
What should drive a discussion about digital media are the following questions:
- Why are young people and children especially drawn to digital devices?
- How does peer pressure affect parents’ choices when buying a mobile device for their kids? (e.g.: children being bullied in schools for not owning a smartphone)
- Why are people becoming addicted to digital technology?
- Which design choices are developers making to make software addicting? How can we stop that from happening?
- How can an addicted person be supported? … and probably many more that I can’t think of right now
The policy doesn’t address any of these. Worst case scenario it communitcates to addicted people that their behaviour is unacceptable, creating an unneccessary additional burden.
- Instant gratification
- Not cool enough for the hot new drug that is instant gratification
- Instant gratification
- Give as much instant gratification as possible
- I don’t know, I am not an expert.
Important context:
It is not enforceable by police – officers could not stop or fine people scrolling in the street because there is no national law against smartphones
Municipalities can’t have their own ordinances? Police only enforce national law?
Perfect example of “road to hell is paved with good intentions”
The reasons here are pure but the methods are not. Luckily this only has a symbolic meaning and is not enforced by police. That would turn dystopian quite quick.
I get it and I support it too, especially because it’s not enforcable by police, but still changes the attitude towards screens.
For me, it reads like old people doing old people things. Let’s see how it plays out.
Yeah I hope people ask themselves more frequently: “Do I really need to take out my phone now? Is it really that important?”, and rather look at the birds, talk to people, just enjoy life.
As always - decent idea, poor execution.
Enforcement is rarely as effective as education - and it is an issue that probably should be addressed at school or at a young age at home, that notification dopamine hits are easily abused by apps and advertisers, the dangers of walking on pavements while your head’s down, and the pervasiveness of social media or always-connected information and it’s impact on mental health.
After all, behaviours are better changed when you learn why it’s a bad idea, rather than someone telling you it’s a bad idea.
How does this work legally? The article mentions that it can’t be enforced by police. And I’m sure that it’s also not really in the power of local villages to ban checking a WhatsApp in a public park.
Consider that it’s a legal obligation for Belgians to vote in elections, punishable by fines. Even though that would be easily enforceable, the Belgians are hardly enforcing it. Yet Belgium still has the highest voter turnout in the world (87%).
The reason: some cultures have a strong tendency to respect some laws regardless of the threat of enforcement as the law sets a standard for respectable behavior and civic duty.
A majority of people might obey this law a majority of the time simply because they would rather not be seen as a disrespectful pest.
As an individual with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, and ADHD, that works in IT…
This policy is incredibly ableist.
Glad I don’t live there.
“Just ask for directions”… have you ever tried asking a french person for help as a tourist? A lot of restraunts won’t even serve you, even if you’re speaking French.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A picture of a smartphone with a red line through it serves as a warning in the window of a hairdresser’s shop in a French village that has voted to ban people scrolling on their phones in public.
“Everyone is struggling with too much screen time,” said Ludivine, a cardiology nurse, as she had her hair cut into a bob, leaving her phone out of sight in her bag.
Seine-Port, in the Seine-et-Marne area south of Paris, with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, last weekend voted yes in a referendum to restrict smartphone use in public, banning adults and children from scrolling on their devices while walking down the street, while sitting with others on a park bench, while in shops, cafes or eating in restaurants and while parents wait for their children in front of the school gates.
The mayor, Vincent Paul-Petit, of the rightwing party Les Républicains, will now write a municipal decree on smartphone use, the first of its kind in France.
Emmanuel Macron said last month he would consult scientific experts to “determine the best use of screens” for young children, suggesting there could be bans or restrictions.
“There’s not much else to do – if you ban phones, you’d have to put in place real structures for young people’s leisure, sports and games,” said Nawel Deciron, 21, a history student and trainee teacher.
The original article contains 1,066 words, the summary contains 230 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I agree with this. Although I admit it is imposing one group’s opinion on the whole of society (in the village at least)
I think there’s something very human about a ton of people being bored, but mentally present, together. I was just thinking about how current technological advancements are creating a very easy path for us to spend less time experiencing our shared reality and increasingly recede into our own, personalized ones (think VR/AR + AI generated things). And not just media bubbles but actual experiences. Look at how detached Casey seems, and now imagine that the entire city is wearing these. VR/AR might be a fringe topic right now but if it becomes the path of least resistance for something, like living via Zoom became during COVID, it will eventually become mainstream.
It’s trivial now but I think it will come to bite us in a few decades’ time
Before phones I used to carry a book or a notebook with a couple of problems I was working on. Would you also ban those to force me into boredom?
Purely my opinion, but: no, because your notebook is finite. You will eventually run out of problems and also be bored.
I see where you’re going! There are a class of people like me that always overpack to prevent that from happening. If I got lost in the wilderness I would certainly eventually run out. The amount of reading material I put in my backpack is way more than I would hit in a given time out with my backpack.
I agree with your point that digital media influences and transformed the way we interact whith each others, and I believe there are studies indicating that young people feel more isolated, which could be a causality of rising smartphone usage.
And I agree, that this needs to be addressed, especially in the face of addiction. The way the french policy handles this though is to create an insentive for people to stay inside, because there they can still use their devices without being questioned or judged, further singleing those out, who already struggle in public using their phone as a lifeline.
The questions that need to be asked here is why people are so eager to use digital devices? Because they are developed in a way to make the user addicted.
That’s true actually, I didn’t think of that