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.
"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.
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
Are they also going to ban reading newspapers or books in public or are they hypocritical boomers?
I believe I know what you are getting at, but still, that’s not exactly an equal comparison:
https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.1a13
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563214001149
So you’re suggesting people are only allowed to use the optimal method for everything?
Personally I’m not attempting to deeply study Lemmy in the three minutes I’m sitting in a reception area but YMMV.
No they don’t. They say there is a difference between Smartphones and newspapers or books.
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
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.
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.
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.
